Bensalem tornado may have helped locate Casey Johnston, who was missing for 3 weeks

A rare tornado that brought with it a path of destruction to Bensalem and Northeast Philadelphia might have played a role in the locating the body of Cassandra "Casey" Johnston, who had been missing three weeks, police said on Sunday.

The day after the Lower Southampton woman's car was located in a wooded area off Woodhaven Road near the Route 1 exit in Philadelphia, township police confirmed Sunday that authorities believe they found the body of Johnston about a half mile away in Byberry Creek.

Johnston, 26, was last seen in the city's Chinatown section July 10 and was the subject of an extensive missing person search since then.

Lower Southampton Police Chief Ted Krimmel said Sunday officials are waiting for positive identification of the body to be completed by Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office, but the description matches that of Johnston.

"I feel pretty comfortable that it is her," he said during a news conference outside the police station. 

After Johnston's 2016 Ford Focus was found Saturday, law enforcement focused its search in the area off the busy highway, and the Philadelphia Police Marine Unit found the body Sunday afternoon in the 1200 block of Townsend Road.

Kevin Ryan, a Chalfont private investigator the family had hired, spotted the roof of a silver car Saturday while surveying the area in a private helicopter, Krimmel said. The heavily damaged car was found about 49 yards off the road.

Ryan organized the helicopter search of likely routes Johnston would have taken from Chinatown to her Bucks County home, authorities said.

Ryan contacted Lower Southampton detectives and 911 after spotting the car Saturday, initiating the police search, Krimmel said. Philadelphia provided the marine unit with maps of drain ditches and culverts in the area, which were used to help locate Johnston's body.

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Authorities believe Johnston was driving westbound on Woodhaven Road when she failed to negotiate a curve on the exit ramp.  Her car went over the guardrail and remained in the air until it struck at least one tree before falling 30 feet into a culvert.   

Johnston apparently was ejected out of the car through its sunroof at some point. Krimmel said.  

“The trajectory of the car into that tree combined with at least a 30-foot fall to the ground and being ejected I can’t believe she would have survived that accident," he added.

No foul play is suspected, he said.

Investigators believe the torrential rains that hit Bensalem and Northeast Philadelphia on July 12 filled the culvert with water and washed the body downstream, Krimmel said. 

Lower Southampton police investigators had been back and forth to the city every day for three weeks searching for Johnston, Krimmel said. Philadelphia's aviation unit did two flyovers along Interstate 95, which was the route authorities believe Johnston traveled before she disappeared, but with no results. 

Authorities believe that Thursday's EF3 tornado, whose path briefly included parts of Northeast Philadelphia before it hit Bensalem with winds of up to 140 miles per hour, might have blown away the canopies of trees in the area that had hidden the car and complicated search efforts, Krimmel said. 

Johnston did not have her cellphone with her at the time of the crash, which likely would have allowed authorities to find her quicker, the Lower Southampton chief said. 

She dropped her phone when leaving a night club and it was late recovered. 

The Neshaminy School District employee was last seen leaving a friend's home July 10. Surveillance cameras captured her car as it headed toward Interstate 95 from Vine Street and North 12th Street about 5:30 that morning.  

"It's very unusual for someone to be missing this long," Krimmel said Sunday. "We were pretty concerned early on just because of the description of her personality and some other things, that she was not turning up."

Johnston's family reported her missing and led an effort to locate her, posting on social media, making pleas for her return, putting out fliers and road signs and paying for billboards and their own private investigator with the help of a gofundme campaign.

"We love you so much Casey. All we want is for you to come home safe. You may not know it now, but everyone is pulling for you. We are all on your team, and we’re only able to move forward because of our love for you! Please come back to us," a social media post from July 29 reads.

Krimmel said his department received many tips from the public including up until Sunday.

"It was nice to see how the community was reaching out to the family and offering support," he added. "Everyone got involved with this one." 

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Johnston's family and friends had been desperate for answers, saying the woman would not have just left home without warning. 

"We want to thank you all for being so strong in this fight to bring our wonderful woman home. She is such a strong person, we have to try to be as strong as her to be able to keep fighting on her behalf," a July 29 post on the Facebook page, Bring Casey Home, read.

The page was taken down after news that authorities had found her body was made public Sunday.

"Our family is overwhelmed with the amount of support from everyone. In the beginning it felt like we were on our feet in the city with no one to turn to, and now seeing everyone come together shows us we can get through this. We WILL find her," on of the final posts read.