A body found in the trunk of a car that was chased by authorities in Nebraska last week has been identified as that of a missing Texas woman who is the mother of the vehicle's teenage driver, authorities said Monday.
The Nebraska State Patrol over the weekend identified the remains discovered after the pursuit Friday as those of Michelle Roenz, 49, of the Houston area.
Tyler Roenz, 17, remained in the hospital after the car he was driving crashed on Interstate 80 near Grand Island, authorities said.
Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Friday that the teen’s condition was “serious.” No updates have been given; the Nebraska State Patrol said he was transferred from a facility in Grand Island to a hospital in Omaha.
Roenz will be returned to Texas, the state patrol said.
"The Nebraska State Patrol is coordinating with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office of Texas for extradition of the minor once he is released from the hospital," the Nebraska department said.
Deputy Thomas Gilliland, a Harris County sheriff's spokesperson, told The Associated Press that Roenz was being extradited based on an allegation of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
He added that a murder charge is expected after Roenz is interviewed in Houston.
Although the name and age are the same as those released last week by Harris County authorities, who had declared mother and son missing, Gilliland confirmed to the AP that the deceased was, indeed, Tyler Roenz's mother.
Roenz and his mother, last seen Thursday morning at their home in Humble, Texas, were reported missing that night, the sheriff's office said last week.
Nebraska troopers came upon a vehicle associated with the Roenz family Friday after having gotten an alert from Harris County that it could be in Nebraska, the state patrol said last week.
The vehicle may have been "involved in a homicide," the state patrol said in a statement Friday.
Gilliland told the AP that Michelle Roenz died from strangulation and blunt force trauma. The medical examiner's office in Hall County, Nebraska, where the pursuit and the collision took place, has not responded to requests for comment.
