She Texted Her Mom Saying She Hoped She Wasn’t Being Kidnapped And 3 Days Later She Was Sadly Found Murdered
New Orleans, Louisiana. 34-year-old Catherine Serou grew up in New Orleans before becoming a worldly and well-traveled young woman.
“Catherine Serou could do anything,” her sister Marie-Claire wrote on a GoFundMe page created for her.
“Brilliant and beautiful, she found joy in learning, growing, eating, traveling, building, crafting, and caring for animals.”
“A former Marine in the Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252, she was a certified Diesel Mechanic,” Marie-Claire continued, before listing out all of her sister’s incredible academic accomplishments.
First, Catherine obtained her associate’s degree from Los Rios Community College, where she dual majored in photography and anthropology.
Next, she attended UC Davis, where she got her bachelor’s in design and her master’s in art history.
Most recently, Catherine was pursuing her master’s in Russia, where she was a law student at Nizhny Novgorod State University.
Facebook; pictured above is Catherine in a photo shared by Nizhny Novgorod State University
It was 7:17 in the evening in Russia on June 15th when Catherine sent her mom an alarming text message.
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Marie-Claire revealed that Catherine’s final text read, “I’m in a car with a stranger. I hope I’m not being abducted.
Sadly, 3 days after Catherine sent that chilling text, the Russian police found her dead in the woods over 200 miles away from Moscow.
“Thank you all for your help trying to get Catherine home safe,” Catherine’s mom Beccy said on Facebook.
“Unfortunately, we got a call from the police this morning telling us they found her body. As our family processes this news we’ll have more to say.
Facebook; pictured above is a post from Catherine’s mom
“Our family is devastated, left only with memories of her wonderful spirit and our time together,” Marie-Claire wrote.
Marie-Claire is hoping to raise enough money for their family to travel to Russia to get Catherine’s remains repatriated and also pay to give her a funeral fitting for a Marine veteran.
On top of that travel, Catherine’s family needs to go to D.C. and California to finalize everything.
GoFundMe; pictured above are Catherine and Marie-Claire as children
“Since the news of Catherine’s disappearance we have lived in anxious anticipation, doing our best to help investigators and search parties, and never lost hope,” Elena Zagaynova, the head of the university in Russia that Catherine was attending said in a statement.
“To our great regret, the girl suffered at the hands of a criminal and tragically died.”
Russian authorities have arrested a man named Alexander Popov, who they say beat and then stabbed Catherine to death.
If you would like to donate to help Catherine’s family, you can do that here.
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