A top executive of a Brooklyn publishing company has been found dead in a Vermont river after she went missing while walking her dog during a vacation at a riverside Airbnb property.
Erika Greber Seyfried was the vice president of digital strategy and consumer engagement at Penguin Random House. Her sudden death has left her husband Elijah Seyfried and her family shocked.
The couple had been vacationing at Westminster when tragedy struck. Following the mysterious disappearance and her death, police have launched an investigation but have disclosed if they are treating it as a homicide.
Sudden Death
According to the Brattleboro Reformer, Erika and Elijah who married in July 2013 had been vacationing at a house owned by a local vintage fashion dealer in Westminster. The property is rented out by Airbnb. On Sunday evening around 8 pm, Seyfried was reported missing by her husband after night fell and she didn't return from her walk.
Seyfried had taken her seven-month-old golden retriever puppy out for walk around 11 am but since then she couldn't be contacted, said Adam Silverman, Vermont State Police spokesman.
A search operation was launched and on Monday a body was found by divers in the river. Police said that they believed the body to be that of Seyfried. The body was found in a pool in the Saxtons River just below the Covered Bridge Road Bridge in Gageville, which is a village in the town of Westminster, and matched the description of Seyfried.
"My understanding is that the victim of our incident here in Vermont is the publishing industry executive at Random House in New York," he said. Police have since launched an investigation.
Tragic Death
As of now police are not suspecting any foul play believe the death to be accidental. However, they haven't given an official statement. Seyfried's body will be taken to the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner's office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death, as well as a positive identification.
The pool where rescue worker focused their search is upstream from the notorious Twin Falls, also on the Saxtons River, where more than a dozen people have drowned while swimming over the past decades, the outlet reported.
However, it is not known if Seyfried also had gone for a swim. Also, Seyfried's golden retriever puppy has not been found, according to members of the agency familiar with the investigation, who spoke to NBC 5.
According to her LinkedIn profile Seyfried had been working with Penguin Random House for the past 13 years. She graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati with a MA in English Literature.
Penguin Random House hasn't released any official statement yet.
