What began as a search for two young mothers who suddenly stopped responding to their families has now become an active investigation in Michigan, with police looking closely at the hours before their Jeep went into the St. Joseph River.
Alexa Navarro, 23, and Vanessa Bautista, 24, both from South Bend, Indiana, were reported missing early Sunday, September 13, after spending Saturday night together celebrating Bautista’s birthday.
Two days later, investigators located the gray 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee the women had been traveling in. It was submerged in the St. Joseph River in Niles, Michigan, with both women inside.
Authorities have since confirmed their identities through the Western Michigan University Office of the Medical Examiner. However, investigators have not yet determined exactly what happened before the vehicle entered the river.
Now, police are examining a new line of information.
Niles Police Chief James Millin said investigators have received statements suggesting that the women may have been followed or chased before the Jeep went into the river.
But authorities have been careful not to describe that possibility as an established fact.
Millin told reporters that investigators have heard accounts that the women may have been followed after leaving an establishment in Elkhart, Indiana, and that other people have suggested they may have been followed after reaching Niles.
Police are now trying to determine whether those reports are accurate and, if so, whether they had any connection to what happened later.
At this point, investigators have not said that another vehicle forced the Jeep off the road.
In fact, police have said there is currently no evidence showing that an outside force pushed the vehicle into the river.
That distinction is important as the investigation continues.
The Jeep is believed to have traveled down an embankment before entering the St. Joseph River. Investigators estimate the vehicle went down approximately 60 to 70 feet, striking trees and other objects along the steep slope before reaching the water.
That impact caused significant damage to the Jeep, but police say the condition of the vehicle should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that another vehicle or person forced it from the road.
The final hours before the women disappeared
The women had spent Saturday night celebrating Bautista’s birthday at The Arena Nightclub in Elkhart.
According to relatives, they later dropped off a friend in South Bend and planned to get something to eat before heading home.
That was the last part of their evening known to their families.
At around 3:41 a.m. Sunday, relatives said someone had the last known contact with the women.
After that, communication stopped.
The sudden silence immediately raised concern because both women were mothers.
Navarro has a 3-year-old child, while Bautista has two young children, ages 2 and 3.
Family members told local news outlets that Navarro normally checked in with people close to her, making the lack of communication especially unusual.
Her family also became concerned after learning that the women had traveled toward Niles rather than taking a more familiar route home.
As the hours passed without contact, relatives and friends began searching.
Police departments in multiple jurisdictions became involved, and members of the community joined the effort.
Investigators also began examining phone-location information and other possible clues that could help establish where the women had traveled after leaving South Bend.
One reported location placed Bautista’s phone in the Niles area.
That information helped investigators focus their search across the state line in southwestern Michigan.
The Jeep becomes the key clue
On Tuesday, September 15, search teams located a vehicle submerged in the St. Joseph River.
The Jeep matched the description of the vehicle the women had been using.
Two women were found inside.
At first, police said they believed the women were Navarro and Bautista based on their clothing and other information.
The medical examiner later confirmed their identities.
The discovery brought an end to the immediate search for the two women, but it also opened a much larger set of questions for investigators.
Police now have to determine exactly how the Jeep reached the river, what happened inside the vehicle and whether anything occurred before it left the roadway.
Chief Millin has emphasized that locating the vehicle does not end the investigation.
Instead, it marks the beginning of the next stage.
What investigators are looking into now
One of the central questions is whether the women were actually being followed.
Several people have reportedly provided information suggesting that possibility.
But investigators have not confirmed that a person or another vehicle was pursuing them.
Police are therefore examining the claims alongside physical evidence from the crash scene, witness accounts and other available information.
The investigation could also benefit from surveillance footage in the area.
Investigators are expected to look at the women’s movements after they left Elkhart, their route toward Niles and what happened in the moments immediately before the Jeep went down the embankment.
The cause of the women’s fatalities has also not yet been publicly established.
Autopsies have been conducted, but toxicology results and other medical findings could take additional time.
Those results may help investigators understand more about the circumstances inside the Jeep before it entered the river.
Families are still looking for answers
For the families, the past several days have been filled with uncertainty, followed by an overwhelming amount of information to process.
Friends and relatives spent days searching for Navarro and Bautista, hoping they would be found safely.
Instead, investigators located their Jeep in the river.
Navarro’s family has also questioned why she appeared to be traveling along a route she did not normally take.
The father of Navarro’s child told WNDU that she usually followed a familiar route when traveling between locations with him, making her presence in Niles difficult for the family to understand.
He said the family now wants to allow investigators to do their work while they wait for more answers.
The women are also being remembered for their roles as mothers and friends.
Their families have described them as young women with children who were deeply connected to those around them.
For everyone involved, the most important questions now concern what happened during the final portion of their journey.
A case with several unanswered questions
At this stage, investigators have not announced an arrest connected to the incident, and police have not publicly identified another person as a suspect.
The claim that the women may have been followed remains one investigative lead among several.
There is also no confirmed finding that another vehicle or person forced the Jeep from the roadway.
That means several possibilities remain open while investigators wait for additional evidence.
Police will likely continue examining the vehicle, the roadway, nearby surveillance footage, phone-location information, witness statements and the results of the medical examinations.
The investigation may also clarify why the women traveled toward Niles after leaving South Bend and what happened during the approximately 60- to 70-foot descent toward the river.
For now, authorities are asking anyone who may have seen the women, their Jeep or anything unusual along their route to provide information.
The families have already spent days searching for answers.
Now investigators are facing the same task — reconstructing the final hours of Alexa Navarro and Vanessa Bautista and determining exactly what led their Jeep from a Saturday night birthday celebration to the waters of the St. Joseph River.
The investigation remains active, and officials have emphasized that they are pursuing multiple possibilities rather than reaching a conclusion before all the evidence has been reviewed.