BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Yekaterina “Katya” Belaya went to a store on Sept. 28, 2014, and was never seen again.
Ten years later, investigators say the body of the mother of three was found at the bottom of a retention pond not far from her Melbourne home.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that remains found on Dec. 20 in a pond off Viera Boulevard have been identified as Belaya, whose case went cold after investigators said they followed all possible leads.
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“[We] started doing some investigation with some cell phone information and stuff. Looked in the several areas where we were getting tower hits, but didn’t come up with anything,” Brevard County Sheriff Public Information Officer Tod Goodyear explained.
“A lot of the information we were getting was that she did have some depression problems or some issues within the family. There was also some thought that she might have left on her own, possibly even have left the country.”
The case was cold until Sunshine State Sonar got involved.
“We’re a private company that works with families of missing people and we assist law enforcement and families, specializing in cases where people are missing in the water. We specialize in cold cases,” Sunshine State Sonar Owner Michael Sullivan said.
Sullivan tells News 6 they searched for 48 hours, eventually finding the 49-year-old submerged 24 feet deep inside her 2003 Honda Odyssey minivan.
“We searched 33 bodies of water and she was in the 33rd,” he said. “I was a little surprised we were able to actually get her that quick, just because there’s probably 500 bodies of water in that area.”
They found Belaya’s minivan in a pond less than 2 miles from her home. It’s not clear how the vehicle ended up in the pond.
Belaya’s family says the Eastern Florida State College science professor said she was going to a store and would return in 30 minutes. Investigators say she never made it to the store.
The investigation into Belaya’s disappearance and discovery is ongoing.
“We’ve sent [her remains] off to an anthropologist to take a look and see if they find any injuries or anything suspicious that would lead us to believe that this is a death due to circumstances such as homicide. We’re running down some other leads too, as well,” Goodyear said.
“It’s an investigation that is still going to take some time because of the condition of the body. I believe there is some toxicology that can be done, which may give us an idea as to any drugs or alcohol in the system. So, there’s a lot still to be done. But as I said, it does bring closure to the family.” Goodyear added.
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