Michele Harrison,missing for more than a month has been found in 25 feet of water

[Gary Dee]

ROCKPORT, Mass. -- The car belonging to a 53-year-old Newburyport woman missing for more than a month has been found submerged in 25 feet of water with a female body inside, police say.


Police on Thursday awaited autopsy results to determine whether the body was that of the missing woman, Michele Harrison.


A diver setting a boat mooring spotted the car Wednesday off Rockport's Granite Pier, which is used by fishermen and boaters. The station wagon's license plate matched that of Harrison's car, and the vehicle was towed out of the water and secured by police.


Harrison, a special education teacher at the Greater Lawrence Educational Collaborative, has been missing since March 17.




Harrison's E-ZPass highway toll account showed that she had passed through the Interstate 95 tolls in Hampton twice on March 17, heading north and south, and a Salisbury man reported seeing Harrison in the town of Millinocket, Maine. She was last heard from on March 16, in a phone conversation with her son.


After publicly releasing information about Harrison's disappearance, police received reports of four sightings of Harrison from March 17 to 21.


Newburyport Inspector Harrison Whitney said Wednesday he believed Harrison was in Maine.


"We believe that the sightings are credible," he said. "There were too many of them to be a coincidence or anything else."


Investigators are looking into how her car wound up in Rockport.

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