'Body unofficially identified as that of missing woman' 11.13.07

Body unofficially identified as that of missing woman
By Jeremy Pittari Item Staff Writer

Hancock County, Miss. — Investigators with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department say that tattoos on the body found Saturday allude to an unofficial identification as that of a woman missing since early August.Hancock County Sheriff Investigator Kenny Hurt said that the body found Saturday on a power line right of way off of Fenton Dedeaux Road had tattoos that correspond with tattoos described on 29 year-old Brandi Laurent who has been missing for about four months. However the department does not want to officially say the body is that of Laurent without further testing.“We still got to go through dental records and everything else to be sure it’s her,” Hurt said.The body was found by the Texas Equusearch within “walking distance from her home” in a shallow grave, Hurt said.Hurt said the body was found in an area he and other officers of the department had searched numerous times; the officers even found a stolen car during one of those searches.Laurent reportedly disappeared at about midnight on Aug. 3 after a marital spat with her husband. She reportedly left home with little more than the shirt on her back, leaving behind her keys, her cell phone and her children, according to statements at the time by her husband.After the body had been found during the search Saturday, several of Laurent’s friends told the Picayune Item that the couple was having difficulties.In an e-mail to the Picayune Item, Laurent’s husband, Leo Laurent, said the couple’s marital problems were “normal.”“We did not have any marital problems out of the normal ones. Some days worse than others, but show me a perfect marriage with no disagreements,” Leo Laurent wrote.A cause of death is expected by Wednesday and the incident is still under investigation, Hurt said.

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