Found Deceased ME - Kristin Westra, 47, North Yarmouth, 30 Sept 2018

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On Thursday morning, Game Wardens and detectives followed up on new, credible information received Wednesday evening of a possible sighting of the North Yarmouth school teacher. They said receiving the information was a surprise, and that they’re hopeful to make progress Thursday toward locating Westra.

Teams of search dogs are also returning to an area behind the Westra home, where MacDonald said brush and trees are so dense in some areas that objects only a few feet away are difficult to spot.

There has been no suggestion so far that Westra got into a vehicle, and all information so far points to her traveling on foot.

Although there is also no indication so far of foul play, detectives are exploring every possibility in their search for Westra.

Missing teacher had anxiety and sought help the day before disappearing, husband says
 
soap mama said:
It is natural to not want to commit someone, to beleive them, I feel so bad for her husband. He knows.
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Then let's just hope he's being honest with LE, telling them that he think she took her own life. If he's making them think she WASN'T feeling that way, I fear that it won't be taken quite as seriously as it needs to be, in terms of finding her. If LE thinks she left on her own accord, NOT intending to harm herself, they might just say "Oh, well she left on her own." And leave it alone. I hope not.
 
EllieGato said:
Back door?
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Yeah, that's totally possible.

Maybe they had some alarm system or something, in which the front door would have caused it to go off? Maybe the left a door ajar intentionally, to make her "escape" without triggering an alarm at 3am?
 
I don't find it strange that her husband didn't call 911. Given the fact that her mental health was fragile and he didn't know what we know now (that she was truly missing) he likely didn't wish to create a stir more than necessary!
Also I have heard that when someone is contemplating suicide they often become more calm and sometimes quite cunning. (Thinking of her method of departure) And beyond all that, she is a loving mother who, in spite of thinking irrationally, did not want to hurt her family.
Lastly, her age...a time when women have been strong, have been known to break.
The pain of the situation has reached my heart and I am praying for a healing outcome.
 
soap mama said:
When i logged in and saw so many new pages, I was hopeful there was news. But here we still are :(
Husband saidnthe garage door wasn’t completely closed Bc it would “catch” I wonder if that exit is out of view of the neighbors security cameras?
It definitely sounds like she was having a really hard time with renovations at home and work. No one likes chaos but she was having a REALLY hard time.
As for the mental assessment, that could be nothing more than, “have you ever made plans to hurt yourself” and she could lie and say “no and I never would or will, I promise.”
I think she was in a really dark place and took her own life, i hope I’m wrong. But it doesn’t seem like the neighbors security camera detected her leaving so my guess is she went out the back or side and just hasn’t been found yet.
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Maybe I don't relate to suicidal depression but I feel if I were in such a place mentally, the last thing I would be doing is jogging before I plan to kill myself. I am not thinking this is suicide, yet.
 
leyash said:
Yeah, that's totally possible.

Maybe they had some alarm system or something, in which the front door would have caused it to go off? Maybe the left a door ajar intentionally, to make her "escape" without triggering an alarm at 3am?
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This is what her husband said about the doors:

"I know that the raincoat she usually wears was in her car," Westra said. "The only thing that was unusual was the garage door. The back entrance was slightly open, about 3 inches, and truthfully, that’s something that the latch catches every once in while and the door doesn't go all the way shut. So that may be a way she left the building. Our front door is noisier, and she may have left the back door, not trying to wake anyone up. She’s a thoughtful person and if we were asleep, she would not want to wake us up."

'I don’t care what people think': Missing North Yarmouth woman's husband speaks to NBC News
 
soap mama said:
Living in a hotel would get real old real fast. Plus there were renovations at her job too, so i think she felt surrounded by chaos. I’m telling ya, she left the house on the back or side and took her life Bc she didn’t want to burden her family. I know the depths of depression. I can feel her pain. That’s what I saw in her husband’s interview. It’s such a painful time. He knows, and probably regrets believing her saying she wouldn’t harm herself. Of course, i would love to be proved wrong.
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I'm sadly in the same place, and I hope I'm wrong or that she is still with us and can be found.

MOO:
My speculation only: She's approaching 50, a time when a lot of people take stock of their lives. She has lived in Europe, Boston, San Francisco, and who knows where else. Even if she jumped all in on her second career as a teacher, maybe it wasn't what she had expected (a few posts upthread talk about the overwhelming demands on teachers today). I live in a northern inter-mountain state, and, although I love it here, there are days when it is downright dreary and I wonder why I'm not in Acapulco. She may have felt it confining after a while, which she would not want to admit to her husband and family because she loves them. Where I am, the days are markably shorter, and the amount of daylight can affect moods, even in someone who does not technically have Seasonal Affective Disorder.

I wince to write this, but since we are in the time of having awkward conversations, menopause could also be a factor. It disrupts hormonal balances and also drives home the point to women that the child-bearing years are behind us. (I'm NOT saying menopause is mental illness!) Then her home and work life is affected by renovation -- more disruption. I just see a lot of factors that could combine to cause distress and unrest, and a feeling that it was too late to make another change (even though it's not, and not all helpful changes have to be HUGE). All JMO and take all with a huge boulder of salt.

Until we learn otherwise, I'm holding out hope that she ran away with a dashing ferry captain, and they are setting up their new enterprise ferrying German tourists up and down the Danube River. Her DH will rebound with a glamorous SAR pro, and they will happily train search dogs for deployment around the world.
 
Nemellotus said:
Another thing: Therapists don't usually work on Sundays unless in a hospital/mental health facility (after being admitted and if you are admitted they usually extend your stay into the regular work week so you have access to those therapists in the hospital/mental health facility). If this is the case there are surely records (although private) of visits. Also labs for blood work aren't open on Sundays either.... I just find this very odd...Therapist also cannot prescribe meds. If she did visit a hospital maybe a Dr. prescribed sedation type meds and she reacted badly to those...?
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I thought of this, too, which sent alarms going off in my head.

I'm also confused as to the sister-in-law's role in this- was this his sister, her sister- didn't it say she was a nurse? If she is a nurse practitioner, she can prescribe medication and order tests, but on the weekends, it would either have to be at a Walk In or as you stated, a hospital. Yet the husband said that she wasn't on any medications, none were in the house, so it doesn't sound like she took anything.

I am just wondering who the sister-in-law is that treated her. It truly is not a good idea to have a loved one treat you medically in any capacity, but I suppose it's done?
 
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Me as well. I do not understand going jogging if she truly was considering suicide. There is no way I would go outside at 3am under any circumstance.
legalmomma said:
Maybe I don't relate to suicidal depression but I feel if I were in such a place mentally, the last thing I would be doing is jogging before I plan to kill myself. I am not thinking this is suicide, yet.
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Steelslady said:
Honestly, I have pondered self harm, but it just seems strange to me that she would do this at 3 am while out walking?

I honestly don't get any bad vibes about the husband. To me, he looked stunned, like he couldn't believe he was talking about his missing wife like this. I really

I thought of this, too, which sent alarms going off in my head.

I'm also confused as to the sister-in-law's role in this- was this his sister, her sister- didn't it say she was a nurse? If she is a nurse practitioner, she can prescribe medication and order tests, but on the weekends, it would either have to be at a Walk In or as you stated, a hospital. Yet the husband said that she wasn't on any medications, none were in the house, so it doesn't sound like she took anything.

I am just wondering who the sister-in-law is that treated her. It truly is not a good idea to have a loved one treat you medically in any capacity, but I suppose it's done?
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Here in this article he identifies the Nurse Practitioner as being a friend and in his video interview he said “he knows somebody who’s a licensed, clinical nurse practitioner...”. Maybe if it’s his sister or his sister-in-law they didn’t want to be identified as a family member?

Westra, a pediatric oncology nurse, said he called a friend who was a “licensed clinical nurse practitioner” who arranged to see his wife that afternoon. He said Kristin Westra met with the medical professional while he and his daughter waited outside, and had the safety assessment that determined she was not at risk to harm herself or others.

Missing teacher had anxiety and sought help the day before disappearing, husband says
 
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~snipped

“Although we’ve remained positive throughout the entire investigation, we’re extremely positive this morning based on this new information we received last evening,” said Cumberland County Sheriff Cpt. Scott Stewart. “I don’t want to get into specifics, but it is credible information and we have resources geared in that direction.”

It wasn’t clear where or when she may have been seen.


Missing teacher had anxiety and sought help the day before disappearing, husband says
 
Steelslady said:
Honestly, I have pondered self harm, but it just seems strange to me that she would do this at 3 am while out walking?

I honestly don't get any bad vibes about the husband. To me, he looked stunned, like he couldn't believe he was talking about his missing wife like this. I really

I thought of this, too, which sent alarms going off in my head.

I'm also confused as to the sister-in-law's role in this- was this his sister, her sister- didn't it say she was a nurse? If she is a nurse practitioner, she can prescribe medication and order tests, but on the weekends, it would either have to be at a Walk In or as you stated, a hospital. Yet the husband said that she wasn't on any medications, none were in the house, so it doesn't sound like she took anything.

I am just wondering who the sister-in-law is that treated her. It truly is not a good idea to have a loved one treat you medically in any capacity, but I suppose it's done?
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RBBM.

JMO:
I suspect it's most likely done in crisis or alarming situations when the affect person resists other treatment options. Her husband may have insisted, and seeing a family member (who could be trusted to keep things confidential) may have been the only thing she would agree to do. Seeking involuntary commitment is a huge step that can have devastating impacts on relationships, at least short term.

If that's the case here, my sympathies to the husband. He is probably beating himself up over not doing more, but he did the best he could. MOO.
 
ElementalLaura said:
RBBM.

JMO:
I suspect it's most likely done in crisis or alarming situations when the affect person resists other treatment options. Her husband may have insisted, and seeing a family member (who could be trusted to keep things confidential) may have been the only thing she would agree to do. Seeking involuntary commitment is a huge step that can have devastating impacts on relationships, at least short term.

If that's the case here, my sympathies to the husband. He is probably beating himself up over not doing more, but he did the best he could. MOO.
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With the high scrutiny teachers are under these days, if anyone found out she was getting help for depression, it could have caused issues for her career, I would think. Or atleast being afraid of that would be a realistic fear for her as well.
 
Razz said:
This may sound silly but I'd check the wastebaskets for empty foil pill packages. Like maybe the sample variety.
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Not silly at all. If someone gave her a sample of Ambien because she was having such difficulty sleeping, she could've had an adverse reaction to it and been out sleep-walking though the woods or near the water.
 
His sister — who has a 9-year-old daughter and a 17-year-old stepson — recently dealt with the twin stresses of ongoing remodeling and renovation at both her school and the family’s home.

“When she comes home, [they] don’t have a place to relax,” Rohrbach said. “They were like eating dinner in the garage. Kristin is someone who likes to come home and curl up with a book, and she couldn’t do that.”

Elementary School Teacher Vanishes from Home, Leaving Keys & Phone: 'Something Out of a Nightmare'
 
Tuliptiptoe said:
A neighbor's surveillance footage showed Westra returning home from a jog around 6 p.m. Sunday evening but authorities said the footage captured no other images of Westra after the 6 p.m. appearance.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newscentermaine.com/amp/article?section=news&subsection=local&headline=i-dont-care-what-people-think-missing-north-yarmouth-womans-husband-speaks-to-nbc-news&contentId=97-600451281
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God, I hate to go here, but.....was her husband's vehicle parked in the garage?
 
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