Crowd Gathers to Pray for Missing LSU Freshman Kori Gauthier

A vigil was held in Baton Rouge on Friday evening, April 9, to pray for the safe return of missing 18-year-old Louisiana State University freshman Kori Gauthier.

According to LSU, Gauthier’s vehicle was found “unoccupied at the scene of an accident” on the eastbound side of the Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge around 1 am on April 7 after another driver, who said Gauthier was not on the scene or in the vehicle, crashed into her parked car.

A statement from the university said a K9 cadaver dog with Mercy Search & Rescue alerted twice in the same area during searches along the Mississippi River levee on Saturday, and that “law enforcement officials suspect that no criminal activity or foul play took place.”

Gauthier, who is from Opelousas, was reported missing after not showing up to class, work, or a doctor’s appointment. Her family tracked her cell phone to her car, which was in a junkyard. Spencer Gauthier, Kori Gauthier’s uncle, told KATC no one in the family was notified the car had been in an accident.

The family asked for the public’s help on Facebook.

Footage shared by Reed Darcey, an editor at LSU student newspaper The Reveille, shows the crowd gathering on Friday evening to pray for Gauthier’s safe return. Credit: Reed Darcey/The Reveille via Storyful