A human foot fished out of an Indiana pond belongs to a missing mother of five, police said.
Avon Police Department Deputy Chief Brian Nugent said late Wednesday that a foot found in April by a fisherman in a northwest Indiana pond has been confirmed to be that of Najah Ferrell, 30, who was last seen on March 15 at her home in Avon, a town of 17,000 people west of Indianapolis.
The identification was confirmed by DNA analysis and comparison by the Indiana State Police Lab, Nugent said.
Detectives in the ongoing investigation “simply do not have additional information to share at this time,” Nugent wrote in an email.
Nugent said the severed foot was found in a pond on April 9 in Crown Point, a town of 27,000 people roughly 130 miles away. A distinct tattoo on the appendage led investigators to believe it might have belonged to Ferrell, he said.
Ferrell had ties to northwest Indiana, having previously lived in Gary, WLS-TV reports.
Nugent told reporters in late March that Ferrell was expected to start her third day of orientation at a Panera Bread location just hours after she disappeared.
“We’re convinced, this family is convinced, this community is convinced also, somebody knows something,” Nugent said in March. “So we are pleading to the public, that if you are that somebody who thinks they may know something … to help bring Najah home.”
Ferrell’s 2018 black Nissan Altima was found 11 days after she disappeared about two miles east of the Panera Bread restaurant. No suspects have been identified as of Thursday in the case, which investigators suspect involves foul play, Nugent said.
Anyone with information about Ferrell’s disappearance is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at (317) 262-TIPS.