Austin Woman Missing For 7 Days Found Dead (Updates)

AUSTIN, TEXAS — The woman who has been missing since Aug. 20 after encountering car trouble, has been found dead, police said in a Monday press advisory.

The body of Angela L. Morris, 47, was found in a wooded area behind a business complex near the 5900 block of West Courtyard Drive, police said. She was reported missing last Monday after her car got a flat tire, prompting her to set off on foot for assistance.

Morris had last been seen at around 2 p.m. on Aug. 20 as she walked northbound on North Capital of Texas Highway, In their plea for the public's help in locating her, police described the woman as Caucasian, standing at five feet, five inches tall and weighing 190 pounds with shoulder-length brown hair.

In their Monday press advisory, police said the woman was found dead just before 10 a.m. (not before 6 a.m. as they initially reported erroneously) on Sunday after a search aided by police canines. Police noted in an email the group that assisted with helping APD search and locate Morris included members of the Texas Game Wardens and Travis County Search and Rescue team.

Homicide detectives and the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office now are investigating the circumstances of the death and sorting through many of the tips called into the department since Morris’s disappearance, police said.

In a subsequent press briefing, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said the original call to police came from the woman's disabled husbasnd, who told a dispatcher Morris had been gone for five hours after the tire blowout. The man alerted police he was unable to reach the then-missing woman as she did not have a cell phone on her, Manley conveyed.

Manley said the man told police the silver Honda Accord in which he and his Morris were traveling got a flat tire at around 11:15 a.m. on Aug. 20 at the intersection of Lakewood Drive and Creek Bluff, the chief said. After changing the tire, the pair continued to travel southbound on Texas State Highway Loop 360, the chief told reporters

But after traveling just under two miles, the man told police the spare tire they had affixed to the car also became flat. Pulling off the roadway, the pair made the decision that Morris would walk to the original site of the first tire blowout where they had inadvertently left the lug nut wrench behind, Manley said. The man told police the needed tool to change the spare was dropped into a storm drain at the original location from the first tire blowout, the chief said.

Morris was gone between 5 1/2 to 6 hours before her husband called police to report her as missing, Manley noted during the press briefing. After checking their own records, police determined they received the missing person call from the husband 6 1/2 hours after the woman left in search of the tire removal tool.

During his call to police, the husband told them that Morris's health conditions made her especially susceptible to heat and likely would have stopped to rest every 30 to 40 minutes of walking. According to weather records, the temperature on Aug. 20 when the woman set off on her walk reached 104 degrees — seven degrees more than the historical average of 97 degrees.

The responding officer conducted a 15-minute search of the area in search of the missing woman to no avail, Manley said. The following morning, a more robust search began after the case was assigned to detectives just after 8:30 a.m., according to the police chief.

The chief said there is no indication of foul play involved in the woman's death. The Medical Examiner’s office was scheduled to conduct an autopsy toward determining the cause of death on Monday afternoon, the APD previously stated.

Related story: Austin Police Seek Public's Help Finding Missing Woman

The woman's body was found about 1/10th of a mile southwest from where she was first reported missing, according to Google Maps. The police chief placed the distance between where the woman's body was found and the second spot where the couple pulled over as roughly half a mile.

The chief acknowledged that the wooded area where the woman's body was found was not canvassed during the first search after the husband reported the woman missing. He said the department would review the process it followed to ensure correct protocol was followed.

The chief said it was unclear why the woman chose to traverse through the wooded area rather than walk along the roadway. As previously noted, however, the temperature that day exceeded 100 degrees, giving rise to the idea that the woman may have been attempting to seek shade from the intense heat. Surveillance camera footage secured by police shows the woman having entered a business, but it's unclear why she then proceeded to exit and continue walking through the greenbelt where she ultimately was found deceased.

Google maps

Map courtesy of Austin Police Department

Map courtesy of Austin Police Department

Homicide Detectives are asking anyone who may have information about this incident to call the Homicide Tip Line at (512) 477-3588 or Crime Stoppers at (512) 472-TIPS or text "Tip 103" + your message to CRIMES. Those with information also can submit tips by downloading APD’s mobile app, Austin PD, for free on iPhone and Android.

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>>> Photo of Angela Morris courtesy of Austin Police Department