Body ID'd as missing La. college student

LAFAYETTE, La. – Investigators have identified the body discovered this week in Evangeline Parish as that of Mickey Shunick, a 21-year-old college student who had been missing since May.

Dental and medical records were used to help identify remains as those of Shunick, according to Keith Talamo of the Lafayette Parish coroner's office.

It could be two to four weeks before investigators are able to determine a cause of death, he said

Lafayette Police Department spokesman Paul Mouton said there will be no further comment on the Shunick investigation at this time.

Shunick, a student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, disappeared May 19 around 2 a.m. as she rode her bicycle home from a friend's house in downtown Lafayette.

On July 5, police arrested Brandon Scott Lavergne, 33, and charged him with first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in Shunick's case.

On Tuesday, investigators acting on a tip went to a private, unpaved road in Evangeline Parish, where they came upon a clearing with several older graves surrounded by trees, Mouton said.

The body was buried in an overgrown area behind the cemetery, he said.

Shunick's parents released a statement Thursday night thanking the thousands of strangers who have shown support for the family.

"Today, we begin our lives without Mickey," said the statement. "We have not just lost our daughter, and our children have not just lost their sister; but all of us have lost a part of ourselves."

The statement requested everybody involved in the effort to always remember Shunick and "the ray of sunshine she projects that will continue to make our world a little brighter."

The Mickey Shunick Volunteer Headquarters also released a statement, thanking the community for its support, requesting prayers for the Shunick family and encouraging people to be inspired by Shunick's life.

"Let us now grieve together for our loss of such a bright light in our live," the statement read. "Let us not give into anger for what has been done, but let us instead strive to do as Mickey did before her light was taken from us. Let us do our part to make the world a little brighter."