TOWN OF LOCKPORT — A search by more than 15 volunteers Saturday located the body of Danielle Hart, a missing woman, less than 1,700 feet from her Rapids Road home.
Trooper James O’Callaghan of the New York State Police said Hart was found in a densely wooded area by a culvert in The Woodlands manufactured home community in the town. Hart’s body will undergo an autopsy at the Erie County Medical Center. O’Callaghan said the investigation is ongoing until autopsy results are received.
“We want to know if it was natural causes or some kind of criminality in it,” O’Callaghan said of Hart’s death. “We have to ask ourselves why she walked away. Is there anything more to this?”
Hart was last seen Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. and was reported missing to New York State Police the next day. She left home without her wallet, keys, or car. Police and volunteers searched the area Jan. 20, and volunteers continued walking the area several days last week without finding anything.
Mary Williams-Diers, founder of WNY Missing & Unidentified Persons, an organization that coordinates volunteer searches, said Monday that Hart was found in a low drainage area behind Ridgewood Drive, clothed with her hood over her head.
“It was disappointing that it took nine days for that result,” she said. “We apologize that it wasn’t the outcome we were hoping.”
Willams-Diers said new volunteer Salvatore Scime, who had previous fire department search training, was instrumental in locating Hart.
Two volunteer drones had been used, and searchers had previously been in the location but did not spot Hart from their angle, said Williams-Diers “You never would have seen her if you were walking in the opposite direction.”