Teen Disappears En Route To Church, Found Murdered In Minivan

Police in Texas are asking the public to help identify a suspect in the murder of Zoe Hastings, an 18-year-old girl missionary prep student, found dead inside her wrecked vehicle one day after her family reported her missing.

On Monday morning, Dallas police received an emergency 911 call notifying them a car had crashed into a creek along the 11700 block of Dixfield Drive.

The caller, identified by local media as Joe Noriega, told police he was driving his daughter to school when a man flagged him down and told him there was an injured girl in a nearby creek.

Noriega said he walked into the creek and saw the minivan.

"I just knew it was foul play," Noriega told KDFW-TV of his reaction to the crime scene.

In the interim, the man who had flagged him down disappeared, Noriega said.

When police and EMS arrived on the scene, they found Hastings' lifeless body inside her 2007 Honda Odyssey minivan.

Investigators found evidence at the scene indicating Hastings had died "from obvious homicidal violence," Deputy Chief Rob Sherwin told reporters during a Monday press conference.

Investigators have yet to comment on a cause or time of death. However, Hastings' family has said she was last seen alive at about 4:45 p.m. Sunday, when she left her home -- a mile from the scene of the accident -- to attend a 5 p.m. missionary prep class at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Lake Highlands.

When Hastings didn't show up at the church, where her father is reportedly a bishop, her family called police and reported her missing.

Dallas police have yet to identify the man who allegedly flagged Noriega down.

How Hastings met with her killer also remains a mystery. However, investigators said they found a lot of physical evidence inside her van, wfaa.com reported.

Equally puzzling is a motive in the crime.

"Zoe was vivacious, beautiful, always willing to help, and a ball of energy that was always ready to make you smile," relatives wrote on a GoFundMe page created to help cover burial expenses.

According to the website, Hastings was the oldest of five kids born to Cheryl, a nurse, and Jim, a teacher. She was a 2015 graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and worked as a swimming instructor at a Local YMCA.

"[They] loved and adored their oldest child beyond words, and were so proud of her accomplishments," the page says of her parents.

The GoFundMe page, along with two other fundraising websites, raised more than $30,000, as of Tuesday afternoon.

"The entire Hastings family appreciates the outpouring of love and support already offered to them and sends their heartfelt thanks for your kindness and genuine love," Dallas East LDS News said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Hastings' friends remain dumbfounded, unable to rationalize who would want their friend dead. Many of them shared their feelings on social media.

"Zoe Hastings was one of the nicest girls I've ever met," Sydney Wright wrote on Twitter. "Everything she did, she did for God."

Similar sentiments have been expressed on Facebook, where a user, identified as Allison Leija, wrote:

"This amazing beautiful person is no longer here. She was part of a class of kids that lifted me up when I needed some serious emotional lifting … This family is incredible, and as a community, we need to do everything we can to support them."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Dallas Police Homicide Unit 214-671-3484 or the Crime Stoppers tip line at 214-737-8477.