Police Believe They Found Body of Missing Stonington Woman at Rocky Neck State Park

Police believe a body found in Rocky Neck State park in Niantic is that of a Mystic real estate agent and mother of three who has been missing for almost a week.

There are no signs a crime has been committed, according to police.

Christine McGugan, a 48-year-old mother, disappeared after leaving Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London last Thursday, police said. Investigators reached out to the public, asking anyone with tips on her whereabouts to call authorities.

Police found McGugan's green 2003 Chevy Tahoe SUV around 8 p.m. Tuesday, about eight and a half miles from where she vanished, when two employees of Bride Brook Health and Rehabilitation Center in Niantic called to report an abandoned vehicle the parking lot.

The health and rehabilitation center is just down the street from the park, where police found a body around 7:45 a.m. They believe the body is that of McGugan and said the case does not appear to be criminal.

Over the last six days, friends have been posting missing person fliers from New Haven to Providence. 

"We've been as far north as Providence, as far south as New Haven. We've checked train stations, garages, airports, ferries, dead end streets all along the coast," Stonington resident Laura Evans said Tuesday.

Police canceled a Silver Alert for McGugan at 12:47 p.m. Wednesday. Officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said the park is temporarily closed as police investigate.

The office of the chief medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine how the woman died.

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