Found Deceased TX - Yvette Franco, 24, Donna, 30 July 2016

[Greater Than]

Body found near site of missing woman's car; identity not confirmed

Just after 10 a.m. the sheriff's office said they had discovered a body inside a canal near Mile 2 West and were working to identify the body despite erroneous reports from several local media outlets that the body was that of a missing Donna woman.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/loca...cle_8eef53ec-5b26-11e6-a29b-0f0a393bbc3a.html

 

[cvaldez1975]

I wonder if she crashed and her window was open and she floated out, or if someone placed her and her car there, or if she crashed, got out and either died down the way because she was injured or came upon someone else.

 

[los2188]

HCSO: Body found in Mercedes identified as missing Donna woman

The body found Friday morning in Mercedes has been identified as a missing Donna woman.

http://valleycentral.com/news/local/car-of-missing-24-year-old-donna-woman-found-in-mercedes​

 

[missgulfsouth]

Her body was found 3 miles from her car?! How often does that happen???

 

[sloane7777]

Wow! I haven't heard that "you look like Carlton" since....high school! These days it's "you look like Al Roker!!! Personally, however, I prefer to think the Rock and I are alike...but nobody's buying that one. Thanks guys. Thanks for the smile.

I still think you look like my college friend Carlton who kinda does look like Carlton, you do NOT look like AL ! ( can you do the dance?)

 

[slowpoke]

So, is it looking quite possible that she accidentally drove into the canal, or is it looking nefarious? Sad outcome!

 

[cvaldez1975]

that is my question.

So, is it looking quite possible that she accidentally drove into the canal, or is it looking nefarious? Sad outcome!

 

[missgulfsouth]

So, is it looking quite possible that she accidentally drove into the canal, or is it looking nefarious? Sad outcome!

I would be much more inclined to believe it was an accident if it weren't for her body being 3 miles away. Is this a swift moving river? Was her door / window open, indicating she had been in the car and was able to escape, but unable to swim and get to safety?

I just have a lot of questions.

ETA: ** It doesn't help that media reports vary, some saying her body was recovered 1 mile north (much more reasonable), others reporting 3 miles north. Sigh. **

 

[Vail]

According to this link, the car was found off Farm-to-Market 491 but doesn't indicate a crossroad.http://valleycentral.com/news/local/car-of-missing-24-year-old-donna-woman-found-in-mercedes

When I plopped this into Google maps with Mercedes, it dropped me at Mile 8 N. If she was on a road like that one, it leads right into the canal with no gate or guard rail. There is also a dirt road along the entire canal, but why would she be driving on it? The car could conceivably have driven right off the bank into the water and ended up lodged against the side, but then I struggle to imagine how she failed to escape the car - this is not a super-deep river. Rumor says the car was found with the doors and windows closed. I guess the truth of that is what is driving LE to look at it as foul play or not - I have a feeling her body will probably have no signs of trauma. There will either be water in the lungs or not - something a potential perp probably doesn't realize is telling.

Not to mention she was found north. Doesn't this canal flow south?

 

[Everyday Grace]

According to this link, the car was found off Farm-to-Market 491 but doesn't indicate a crossroad.http://valleycentral.com/news/local/car-of-missing-24-year-old-donna-woman-found-in-mercedes

When I plopped this into Google maps with Mercedes, it dropped me at Mile 8 N. If she was on a road like that one, it leads right into the canal with no gate or guard rail. There is also a dirt road along the entire canal, but why would she be driving on it? The car could conceivably have driven right off the bank into the water and ended up lodged against the side, but then I struggle to imagine how she failed to escape the car - this is not a super-deep river. Rumor says the car was found with the doors and windows closed. I guess the truth of that is what is driving LE to look at it as foul play or not - I have a feeling her body will probably have no signs of trauma. There will either be water in the lungs or not - something a potential perp probably doesn't realize is telling.

Not to mention she was found north. Doesn't this canal flow south?

Closest I've been able to place the location where her car was found:

Mercedes police and fire departments, along with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office and Weslaco Fire Department, are at the scene of a car found inside a canal.

Authorities are blocking off an area along FM 491, near the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Showgrounds in Mercedes.

http://www.krgv.com/story/32690934/missing-donna-womans-car-found-in-canal

 

[Vail]

Closest I've been able to place the location where her car was found:



http://www.krgv.com/story/32690934/missing-donna-womans-car-found-in-canal

Thank you!

So that is even further south with the campgrounds being on the opposite side of the canal from 491...do we know which side was the car? It also looks like a dam right there before 83, so there is no way her body floated north, especially with that sharp bend just before mile 8 n (though in some freak way her car could have floated south? Seems implausible). I hope they solve this one quickly, Yvette appears to be a lovely person and very loved by her community and all who knew her. https://www.facebook.com/yviifranco?fref=ts

 

[Everyday Grace]

Thank you!

So that is even further south with the campgrounds being on the opposite side of the canal from 491...do we know which side was the car? It also looks like a dam right there before 83, so there is no way her body floated north, especially with that sharp bend just before mile 8 n (though in some freak way her car could have floated south? Seems implausible). I hope they solve this one quickly, Yvette appears to be a lovely person and very loved by her community and all who knew her. https://www.facebook.com/yviifranco?fref=ts

No idea which side the car was on, but I haven't watched any videos to see if the give a clue.

The soonest that 2 Mile West (where her body was found near) intersects with the canal is at Mile 10 N.

It seems possible that her car could have gone into the canal further north of 83/2 and floated south until it reached the barriers there.

The natural flow would be southward towards the Rio Grande.

The location of her body has me baffled. If the general location of 2 Mile West and 10 Mile North is right, that would be a branch of the canal and one that traverses locks at the inflow and outflow at Lake Campacuas before that location.

Aiy.

Hard to get a clear picture of exactly where and exactly how her body and her car got to where they were found.

The Monitor says the distance between the two discoveries was one mile. Other reports say three miles.

The body was found nearly one mile away from where authorities pulled her car out of the canal.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/loca...cle_8eef53ec-5b26-11e6-a29b-0f0a393bbc3a.html

First time I have ever looked at the area from an aerial perspective. I have seen some of the canals and irrigation ditches from the ground, but I never really appreciated how vast that system is.

 

[Vail]

There is no way her car or body floated into that arm off mile 2, or from there to the fairgrounds with that lake in between (how big is the lock? it looks like a tiny culvert from above). I think the back of the fairgrounds was chosen because it is isolated and deserted at night, the car was pushed in and lodged where it sank, and her body dumped in the opposite direction a mile away (or vice versa). I wish we knew where the friends place is that she left from.

So the next question is, why?

 

[Everyday Grace]

There is no way her car or body floated into that arm off mile 2, or from there to the fairgrounds with that lake in between (how big is the lock? it looks like a tiny culvert from above). I think the back of the fairgrounds was chosen because it is isolated and deserted at night, the car was pushed in and lodged where it sank, and her body dumped in the opposite direction a mile away (or vice versa). I wish we knew where the friends place is that she left from.

So the next question is, why?

Franco went missing last Saturday, after leaving a friend's house on Cesar Drive in Mercedes

http://www.krgv.com/story/32690934/missing-donna-womans-car-found-in-canal

I don't think I'm getting a sold fix where that is. Presumably in Mercedes.

Not clear here if the unidentified witness is the friend or not.

According to officials, an unidentified witness reported seeing Franco leaving a friend’s residence later that evening in Mercedes.

http://www.themonitor.com/news/loca...cle_8eef53ec-5b26-11e6-a29b-0f0a393bbc3a.html

 

[Vail]

http://www.krgv.com/story/32690934/missing-donna-womans-car-found-in-canal

I don't think I'm getting a sold fix where that is. Presumably in Mercedes.

Not clear here if the unidentified witness is the friend or not.


http://www.themonitor.com/news/loca...cle_8eef53ec-5b26-11e6-a29b-0f0a393bbc3a.html

Yeah me either, I looked at just about every named street and couldn't find a Cesar Drive much less an anything Drive or Cesar anything that isn't pizza. The only one Google knows nearby is in Brownsville, which does happen to be where she is from, but her BFF says she was last seen in Mercedes (you can find her by googling Yvette's name, see the and then check that FB for posts on Yvette the last several days - interesting comments on who she was with that night).

According to Google maps, her body was about 3.8 miles from the car going by the canals. I'm as baffled as you are how she ended up there!

 

[missgulfsouth]

According to this link, the car was found off Farm-to-Market 491 but doesn't indicate a crossroad.http://valleycentral.com/news/local/car-of-missing-24-year-old-donna-woman-found-in-mercedes

When I plopped this into Google maps with Mercedes, it dropped me at Mile 8 N. If she was on a road like that one, it leads right into the canal with no gate or guard rail. There is also a dirt road along the entire canal, but why would she be driving on it? The car could conceivably have driven right off the bank into the water and ended up lodged against the side, but then I struggle to imagine how she failed to escape the car - this is not a super-deep river. Rumor says the car was found with the doors and windows closed. I guess the truth of that is what is driving LE to look at it as foul play or not - I have a feeling her body will probably have no signs of trauma. There will either be water in the lungs or not - something a potential perp probably doesn't realize is telling.

Not to mention she was found north. Doesn't this canal flow south?

All very good questions that puzzle me, as well. If this was truly a horrible accident, then so be it. But I hope they dig deep for the answers that Yvette's loved one's deserve ... please don't be quick to dismiss foul play. I am concerned. My prayers are with those who love and will miss her.

 

[missgulfsouth]

No idea which side the car was on, but I haven't watched any videos to see if the give a clue.

The soonest that 2 Mile West (where her body was found near) intersects with the canal is at Mile 10 N.

It seems possible that her car could have gone into the canal further north of 83/2 and floated south until it reached the barriers there.

The natural flow would be southward towards the Rio Grande.

The location of her body has me baffled. If the general location of 2 Mile West and 10 Mile North is right, that would be a branch of the canal and one that traverses locks at the inflow and outflow at Lake Campacuas before that location.

Aiy.

Hard to get a clear picture of exactly where and exactly how her body and her car got to where they were found.

The Monitor says the distance between the two discoveries was one mile. Other reports say three miles.


http://www.themonitor.com/news/loca...cle_8eef53ec-5b26-11e6-a29b-0f0a393bbc3a.html

First time I have ever looked at the area from an aerial perspective. I have seen some of the canals and irrigation ditches from the ground, but I never really appreciated how vast that system is.

But even if her car went in further north and floated down, why were her doors and windows closed? How did she get out???

 

[missgulfsouth]

There is no way her car or body floated into that arm off mile 2, or from there to the fairgrounds with that lake in between (how big is the lock? it looks like a tiny culvert from above). I think the back of the fairgrounds was chosen because it is isolated and deserted at night, the car was pushed in and lodged where it sank, and her body dumped in the opposite direction a mile away (or vice versa). I wish we knew where the friends place is that she left from.

So the next question is, why?

My thoughts exactly.

 

[cvaldez1975]

Could she have od'd? Maybe there was a party there?

There is no way her car or body floated into that arm off mile 2, or from there to the fairgrounds with that lake in between (how big is the lock? it looks like a tiny culvert from above). I think the back of the fairgrounds was chosen because it is isolated and deserted at night, the car was pushed in and lodged where it sank, and her body dumped in the opposite direction a mile away (or vice versa). I wish we knew where the friends place is that she left from.

So the next question is, why?

 

[Vail]

Could she have od'd? Maybe there was a party there?

That is a possibility of course, though there is some (as yet unverified) indication she met up with a guy unknown to her friends/family that night. That doesn't mean she still didn't OD, but I really doubt her body and car ended up where they did without some help.

I also think Cesar Drive is her family's place in Brownsville (not in Mercedes) and she had been there earlier that day for a family BBQ, thus the confusing last-seen (one by her family who reported her missing, and finally the 'witness' wherever she went that night in Mercedes) *speculation*.

Don't know why this case bugs me so much- maybe it is because people who are found in rivers never seem to get media followup or closure.