Breaking News…..Autopsy Confirms Identity of Body Found in an Indiana Lake

Breaking News.....The mystery surrounding the death of a west Michigan doctor has come to a close with release of the autopsy results on a body found in an Indiana lake.

Officials in Indiana announcing at the same time as those in Kalamazoo County confirmed that the body is indeed that of Dr. Teleka Patrick who has been missing since last year.

In a press conference streamed live by wzzmtv.com, officials confirmed today that the body was found Sunday in Lake Charles by a fisherman who noticed something unusual in the lake and went to investigate.  The waterway, though, had been searched repeatedly--according to officials--during the investigation into Patrick's whereabouts.

Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller says a search of the lake on January 23rd involved only sonar lowered through holes cut in the ice.  He says nothing was found.  Fuller says he returned with others on April 1st to search yet again, but again nothing was found.

The body was described as an African American female.  It was badly decomposed requiring an autopsy to check cause of death and run finger prints and dental records to make a positive identification.  The delay despite the recovery of some cash and a pager believed to belong to Patrick.

Patrick's mother told WOOD-TV earlier that she was told the body "is" that of her daughter, but later said the determination was preliminary.

Patrick was last seen leaving Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo on December 5, 2013.  Her car was found later that night abandoned in a ditch off I-94 in Indiana.    Kalamazoo County Sheriff's officials this morning saying the woman could have had problems with low tire pressure that may have caused her to pull off to the side of the road.  The site was not far from the lake.

Sheriff Fuller says the investigation has led him to believe that Patrick, whom he believed was headed to see a friend in St. Louis,  may have stumbled into the lake and drowned. He says there is no evidence at this time that foul play was involved.

There were reports that Patrick told a friend that she feared for her life just before she went missing.  Police say there is no evidence suggesting this was a murder.