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A St. Louis ballerina who "transcended everyone every time she danced" was found dead two days after the discovery of her abandoned car near a lake, officials said.
The lifeless body of Raffaella Maria Stroik, 23, was found around 9:40 am in Lake Mark Twain, in rural Monroe County, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
At a press conference Wednesday, Sgt. Eric Brown said that there was no immediate sign of foul play.
"We do not see anything that has given us a solid direction at the moment," said Brown, according to the Herald-Whig.
The mysterious disappearance of the dancer took place on Monday, when a national park ranger found his 2012 Volkswagen Jetta black unattended in a car park near the lake.
A check of the computer showed that Stroik had not been missing.
The next morning, a Missouri state soldier again checked the place and found his car still there, resulting in the filing of a report on the missing persons.
A pilot in a private plane who helped in Stroik's search discovered his body in the lake.
She was last seen at a Whole Foods in the suburbs of St. Louis, around 10:30 am on Monday.
An autopsy was to be completed on Thursday morning.
The native of South Bend, in Indiana, had played with the St. Louis Ballet since 2017 and had starred in "Cinderella", "The Nutcracker" and "The Life" with the company. She was also a former member of the company with the American Contemporary Ballet.
"May Raffaella rest in peace. It was a beautiful soul that we will all miss deeply, "said St. Louis Ballet on his website.
In Indiana, Stroik landed the role of Sugar Plum's fairy in the 2012 and 2015 productions of The Nutcracker in Southold, reported the South Bend Tribune.
She was the daughter of Duncan Stroik, professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame, who also owns an office of architecture in South Bend.
The former Southold Artistic Director, Erica Fischbach, has remembered the young dancer as a person who had "a very special artistic quality that is simply invisible."
"It's almost like she's transcending everyone every time she dances," said Fischbach, now director of the Colorado Ballet Academy. "She gave something so special to everyone who watched it that everyone just loved it. She would take people out of their lives by looking at her. "
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