After two months of heartache and despair from not knowing the whereabouts of their loved one, friends and family members of Meadville native Kelly Catalano are now grieving.
In reports published on Richmond, Va.’s, WTVR.com Web site, Chesterfield County, Va., police have confirmed that a body recovered from a small island in Swift Creek, near the Interstate 95 bridge Thursday, is that of the 40-year old Catalano. WVTR.com is the Web site of CBS Channel 6 of Richmond.
Police are awaiting final autopsy results, but there were no obvious signs of trauma, the report said. Catalano was reported missing Jan. 15 from Blue Print Automation Plant off Innovation Drive, where she worked as a welder. She disappeared while taking a break from her job.
A boater out on Swift Creek in Colonial Heights discovered a human body washed ashore on a small island and contacted police about noon Thursday, the WTVR report said. The area is about a mile away from where Catalano was last seen.
A 1987 graduate of Meadville Area Senior High School, Catalano stayed in close contact with local family and friends, and she still owned a house here, which she was renting out, on Livermore Road.
As reported in The Meadville Tribune in January, WTVR had reported “bizarre circumstances surrounding her disappearance” from work that day, and the case caught the attention of many in the Chesterfield and Richmond, Va., vicinity.
The case is now in the hands of the Richmond medical examiner, said a tearful Jody Aylsworth of Meadville, a niece of Catalano’s. She said family members were devastated by the news and would not have additional comments at this time. “It’s just too fresh right now,” she said, adding that funeral arrangements are being made with Meadville’s Robert W. Waid Funeral Home. Arrangements are still incomplete, Waid’s said Friday night.
Dedicated to finding Catalano, some of her family members had been staying at her Virginia home and taking active roles in searches there. Efforts to locate her also included numerous posters around the Meadville area.
