College student missing for month found dead in Ohio quarry, family says. ‘Devastated’
An Ohio State University graduate student missing for a month was found dead in a quarry where she was last seen, her family says.
Amina Alhaj-Omar, 25, was reported missing Saturday, June 10, according to the Columbus Police Department. She was a social work graduate student at the university and interned with Community Refugee and Immigration Services.
An investigation revealed Alhaj-Omar was seen exiting a BP gas station in Columbus on June 10 carrying two kitchen knives, police said in a news briefing streamed by WCMH. That same day, a woman that matched her description was spotted trespassing at a nearby quarry, police said.
Police searched the “very large quarry” for Alhaj-Omar, but officers were unable to find her. Despite reports from police stating she may have been having “a mental health crisis,” family members told The Columbus Dispatch she would never hurt herself intentionally.
The search for the missing graduate student was suspended June 29 when Columbus police had exhausted all of their leads, according to WSYX.
She was found dead in the quarry July 12, according to an obituary. It’s unclear how or when she died.
Family members said in the obituary they were “devastated” by her death.
“On Wednesday afternoon we received a call from the Franklin County detectives when they later came to our home and informed the family that they had found Amina’s body in the quarry behind the BP gas station on S. High Street where she was last seen,” family members said in a statement to WCMH. “We are unaware of the details at this time as we have not yet received the autopsy report.”
Alhaj-Omar would have turned 26 on June 29. She was described by a sister as “a soft, kind soul.”
“She’s a really good person,” Miriam Alhaj-Omar told The Columbus Dispatch before her sister was found. “She will stretch herself in order to make someone’s life easier.”
She was buried Sunday, July 16, a sister said in a Facebook post.
An obituary states Alhaj-Omar earned her bachelor’s degree in criminology from Ohio State University. She was known as being family-oriented, with loved ones remembering her for her laugh.
“It was contagious and brought happiness to everyone in the room,” according to the obituary. “She had a way of making people feel comfortable and welcomed in any situation. Her personality was simply beautiful — a bubbly, shy, caring, funny and loving human being inside and out.”
Body found at Virginia national park believed to be missing college student, cops say
Student found shot dead in wrecked car after phone call ends with bang, TX officials say
22-year-old missing nearly a week found dead in California wilderness park, cops say
