Amber Evans Found Dead: Community Activist's Body Was In Ohio River

A body found in an Ohio river Saturday was identified as community activist Amber Evans, who went missing on Jan. 28 following a dispute with her boyfriend, media reports said. The search for the 28-year-old was going on for nearly two months.

Authorities said the body of a woman was pulled from the Scioto River in Columbus, about a mile downstream from where Evans' car was abandoned when she went missing. Details about the cause of death and how or when she ended up in the river were yet to be revealed.

"While this is not the outcome we had hoped for, we understand this brings closure for the family. Our thoughts & prayers go out to them," the Columbus Division of Police said in a statement Sunday.

Since the beginning of the investigation, police stressed there were no known domestic violence issues between her and her partner. Police also said there was no reason to suspect foul play.

The night Evans disappeared, a search was conducted along the river by canine units and patrol officers as well as a sheriff’s office drone using infrared technology, Commander Alex Behnen of the police Special Victims Bureau said.

Evans' mother, Tonya Fischer, told local media 10TV that her daughter had texted her: "I love you and I'm sorry" on the night she disappeared.

Fischer posted a message on her Facebook page on Sunday, asking reporters to “give her a moment” as she mourned the death of her daughter.

“I just lost my first born child,” Fischer wrote in the post, adding that the family plans to have a memorial vigil at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Scioto Mile.

Fischer told Dateline earlier this month that her daughter was a passionate and intelligent young woman.

“Amber was dedicated. She had passion. She had fire for the cause and work that she did,” Fischer said. “She was determined to heal pains of the world at whatever it took.” Brian Peters, Amber’s father, said it “lifted you up to be around her. She was just a ray of light -- always happy, always chipper, always smiling.”

Evans worked for the Juvenile Justice Coalition in Columbus since 2015. Earlier this year she was promoted to executive director.

“The work was getting to Amber,” her mother said. “She was taken off the spectrum of organizing and being in the heart of it all, to the administrative side.”