Missing Virgina Mom Who Vanished During Night Out With Friends Is Found Dead

A Virginia mom who mysteriously vanished during a night out with friends, leaving behind her purse and cell phone, has been found dead at a nearby residence.

Sheena West had been at Central Shore, a tapas bar and restaurant in Virginia Beach, with her girlfriends Saturday night when she disappeared without saying a word, leaving her personal belongings behind, The Virginian Pilot reports.

“She’s been missing since Saturday night with no car, phone or wallet, hasn’t been to home or work, and isn’t in the jail or hospital either,” her friend Desiree Czoschke wrote in a plea on Facebook, describing her friend as wearing a gold cocktail dress and black blazer at the time she “just disappeared.”

West’s friends filed a missing persons report for her the following day with the Virginia Beach Police Department. Security footage captured from the restaurant appeared to show West leaving the restaurant, being led out by a man.

But the search for their missing friend took a tragic turn after she was found dead at a nearby residence.

Sgt. William D. Pickering Jr. of the Norfolk Police Department told Oxygen.com that police received a call around 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning about a “unresponsive woman” in the 1200 block of Hillside Avenue.

“When police and paramedics arrived, they located a 30-year-old woman,” Pickering said. “She was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Authorities were later able to identify the dead woman as West.

Pickering said the case is currently being investigated as an “undetermined death.”

While the medical examiner will determine the official manner and cause of death, Pickering said there were “no signs of foul play that have been observed at this time.”

He declined to comment about whether the residence was connected to the man seen leaving with West on surveillance footage.

Czoschke also confirmed the tragic death of her friend on Facebook.

“Sheena has been found and as much as it breaks my heart to actually say the words, may she Rest In Peace,” she wrote. “(T)he world is a much more boring and cold place without her in it.”

Before her death, West had worked at the The Center for Animal Healing, Virginia Beach Pet Wellness Center. The center was closed Wednesday as staff members grieved for their coworker.

“Sheena was very passionate about her work here and had so much love for all her doggie patients,” Tracy Espinosa, the center’s office manager, told the local paper. “She was funny, positive and such a sweet friend. She spoke so lovingly about her family, especially her son.”