Teacher found dead in river weeks after vanishing, Oregon cops say. ‘Beacon of light’
The body of a missing kindergarten teacher was found weeks after she vanished, Oregon deputies say.
Rachel Merchant-Ly, 27, was reported missing after she didn’t show for work at Glide Elementary School the morning of Feb. 29, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Deputies said they found signs of a vehicle crash on Highway 138E later that day.
The following day, deputies said Merchant-Ly’s car was found in the North Umpqua River, but she was nowhere to be found.
“Since that time, searchers have conducted numerous searches by water, land, and air without success,” deputies said.
During a “large-scale search” April 19, nearly two months after she was reported missing, deputies said a volunteer found a body in the river nearly 8 miles downstream from the crash site.
Deputies said they recovered the body, and the medical examiner’s officer confirmed it was Merchant-Ly.
“Rachel is not just a teacher; she is a beacon of light in our community, a pillar of strength, and a cherished friend to many,” a GoFundMe says. “Her dedication to her students, her family, and her community is unparalleled.”
In the midst of the search for Merchant-Ly, her husband, Hao Ly, recalled the last time he saw his wife.
“You know what’s really carrying me right now?” Ly wrote in a March 23 Facebook post. “The way and the volume of how she said ‘Love you Howie!’ And rolled the window up and left the driveway. It just keeps my heart pumping. The last thing I heard from her.”
The Glide School District, which called Merchant-Ly “an incredible and cherished teacher” in a Feb. 29 Facebook post, held a candlelight vigil for her a little more than a month after her disappearance.
At the vigil, Ly spoke of how the clicking of his wife’s heels in their house would “annoy him,” The News-Review reported.
“But now I’d really love to hear those footsteps, you know,” he said, the newspaper reported. “You just don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”
Glide is about an 80-mile drive south from Eugene.
This story was originally published April 23, 2024 at 1:32 PM with the headline "Teacher found dead in river weeks after vanishing, Oregon cops say. ‘Beacon of light’."
