Authorities have identified the woman discovered in the Long Island Sound this week as Brittany Kritis-Garip, a 32-year-old resident of Oyster Bay who disappeared under mysterious circumstances last month.
The Suffolk County Police Department confirmed that the body retrieved from Lloyd Harbor belonged to Kritis-Garip. Her disappearance dates back to March 20, when she was last captured on surveillance footage in the upscale area of Oyster Bay, as reported by News 12 Long Island.
On that day, Kritis-Garip unexpectedly exited a family member’s vehicle. Her brother, Niko Kritis, revealed to Patch that she seemed “vulnerable,” possibly “disoriented and frightened” at the time of her disappearance.
Her husband, Fernando, recounted that she threw her phone into a bush and ran off, dressed in black pants and a black jacket with a fur collar when she left the car.
Although detectives suspect that her death was “non-criminal in nature,” the exact circumstances remain shrouded in mystery, police stated.
Detectives believe her cause of death is “non-criminal in nature,” police said in a statement — although the circumstances surrounding her death remain unclear.
After a grueling three-week search, her brother announced on Facebook that the hunt for his sister “has come to a close.”
“With heavy hearts, we share that Brittany has been found and has passed. We take comfort in knowing that God has called her into His care, and that she is now at peace,” he wrote in the Facebook group dedicated to search efforts for his sister.
“Brittany was, and will always be, a light in the lives of everyone she met. Her warmth, kindness, and spirit left a lasting mark on so many people. That light does not disappear—it lives on in all of us who knew and loved her.”
