Body of Charlotte woman missing for weeks found in Lake Wylie, police say

Police identified a body found floating on Lake Wylie as a Charlotte woman who had been missing for two weeks.

Vatsla Watkins was found dead on Sunday by the Buster Boyd Bridge. She was 39 and married to former Mecklenburg County GOP Chair Curtis Watkins.

Family and friends said they had neither seen nor heard from her since she left home on March 19. She was driving her silver, four-door 2004 Mercedes-Benz C230 sedan, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department news release the week she went missing.

Three days later, at about 8:30 a.m. on March 22, officers from CMPD’s Steele Creek Division found her car near the 16300 block of York Road, just south of the Buster Boyd Bridge, The Charlotte Observer previously reported. The car was at Pier 49 Marina, Fox 46 reported.

Officers from CMPD’s missing person and lake units searched for Watkins until 5 p.m., along with a police helicopter, K9 teams and Charlotte firefighters.

They found her body more than a week later, on March 31.

No foul play is suspected, police said in Wednesday’s release.

This story was originally published April 3, 2019 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Body of Charlotte woman missing for weeks found in Lake Wylie, police say."