A 33-year-old upstate New York woman has been found dead in the bottom of an embankment in Rochester after she went missing in the early hours of New Year’s Day, officials said.
Jennifer Hicks, of Pittsford, New York, was last seen at about 2:30 a.m. Monday at Ziggy’s bar on Railroad Street in Rochester, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office rep Brendan Hurley told the Democrat and Chronicle.
A missing person alert was issued and her body was discovered Tuesday in an embankment between Scio Street and Portland Avenue during a search conducted by the sheriff’s office and Rochester police.
There did not appear to be any signs of foul play but the investigation is ongoing, officials said. The Medical Examiner’s Office is working to determine the cause of death.
“It is an active investigation. Nothing is ruled out since we don’t have a definitive answer on how she died,” Hurley said, according to the Daily Mail, which reported that Hicks’ dad reported her missing.
It was unclear why Hicks was walking alone at the time of her disappearance and whether she was on her way home, but Hurley said the route along a major highway was not the typical way to her place.
Former classmate Dan DeHond paid tribute to Hicks in a post on Facebook.
“We hit it off right away because of our quirky weird humor. Always felt warm and comfortable around each other,” DeHond wrote.
“She has a special place in my heart because for years in the recent past, she encouraged me to keep making funny videos/TikTok’s. We both supported each other on those platforms – it being somewhat weird and isolated putting yourself out there like that,” he wrote.
“She never had to do that but she always did – she was always a sweetheart, and even though we never really hung out with each other in person, I feel like we understood each other,” the former classmate continued.
“It hurts me that I don’t get to tell you in person how great of a person you are and how much I admired your confidence in being yourself and your great sense of humor,” DeHond added.
Hicks graduated in 2012 from Monroe Community College, where she studied health sciences, and worked for Monroe Ambulance, according to her Facebook page. She went to Brighton High School.
She posted cryptic messages just months before her death, with one photo of a journal that read: “Sometimes God puts you in places ALONE,” emphasizing the word by underlining it, “because He needs you to realize you do NOT need Anybody but HIM!”
In October, she wrote: “Today I embark into the unknown. Hold my drink, while I grab my flashlight.”
Rochester police and Ziggy’s bar did not immediately respond to requests for comment by The Post.