Officials confirmed today that the body found Wednesday at Lake Tangipahoa was that of a missing teenager.
Leslie Allen was reported missng on Sept. 6, two days after deputies responded to a report of a woman acting strangely near Irene Road, and Allen was the woman in question.
On Tuesday, officials brought search dogs to Percy Quin State Park to continue their search for Allen.
Authorities received a call around 10:30 a.m., Wednesday from someone who said they had been exploring the recently drained lake and spotted a body, Pike County Chief Deputy Steve Rushing said.
He declined to give the name of the person who reported the discovery.
Lawmen said Allen was found near the center of the lake but they were not able to determine how she died or how long her body had been there.
Rushing would not say how she may have gotten onto the lake bed, or if there were any tracks in the muddy lake bottom leading to it.
“We’re not going to get into that,” he said.
Officials from the McComb Fire Department used chainsaws and utility vehicles to cut their way through the woods and go onto the muddy lake bed.
After hours of work they waded through waist-deep mud and were able to reach Allen, who was reportedly lying face down.
Her body was found on the west side of the lake, and officials from the sheriff’s department, as well as wildlife officers and civil defense gathered at the group camp near the southwestern edge of the lake to stage their efforts.
The events come as work continues to repair the dam at the lake following heavy rains from Hurricane Isaac. Workers began lowering the lake after the hurricane struck two weeks ago, and now the body of water is nearly dry.
As work on the dam continues, crews have cut the spillway road, making Irene Road — where Allen was last seen — the only way to access the west side of the lake.
The Pike County Sheriff would like to thank Percy Quin State Park Manager Will Busby and his staff, Civil Defense Director Richard Coghlan and his staff, McComb Fire Chief B.J, Nettles and the McComb Fire Department and Major Lane Ball with The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and his officers for their help during the recovery.
