A body has been found in the search for missing mother of two Katie Kenyon.
The 33-year-old’s family was left ‘broken’ when she disappeared from her home in Burnley on April 22.
She was last seen entering a Ford Transit believed to have traveled to the Bolton-by-Bowland area of Lancashire.
On Tuesday, detectives said there was only a ‘slim hope’ of finding her alive and announcing their search for missing persons had turned into a murder investigation.
Now, police in Lancashire have found a body after receiving new information about where she may be.
The force said that although the woman’s identity has not been formally confirmed, they believe it is Katies.
Andrew Burfield, 50, of Burnley, was charged Wednesday with his murder.
Katie’s loved ones have been thrown into a ‘real nightmare’, a family friend has said. They said her two children ‘miss her and love her’.
Her devastated sister Sarah wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, saying, ‘Receiving the most heartbreaking news this afternoon that … our Katie is no longer with us has been the worst we’ve ever heard.’
She said her family has “lost a mother, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a niece, a granddaughter and a friend”.
More than 60 specialized search officers from four police forces searched a rural beauty in Lancashire to find Katie’s body.
Firefighters, dog teams, rescue volunteers and drones all helped in the search.
![MERCURY PRESS. 27/04/22. Gisburn, United Kingdom. (Image: Police search team continues to search areas in Gisburn Forest, Lancs, this morning [WEDS], while looking for the potential remains of the missing woman Katie Kenyon. Yesterday afternoon, a man was arrested in connection with her disappearance further arrested on suspicion of murder.)](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/SEI_100933333.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=540%2C360)
Detective Gary Brooks, head of Lancashire Police’s large investigative unit, said: ‘After extensive police investigations and after a number of days of searching, I can now unfortunately confirm that we have found a body, and at this point we believe it is by Katie Kenyon.
‘Katie’s family has been told and my heart goes out to them at this time. We have specially trained officers who support them in this difficult time.
‘I would like to thank the public and the media for all the help they have given us during a lengthy, complex and very emotional search, and I would also like to thank both the partner agencies and all the police officers and staff who have been involved in the search for Katie.
“While this is not the conclusion of the searches any of us would have wished for, I know the family appreciates this effort. Once again, my thoughts today go to Katie’s family and all her loved ones.”
Anyone with information please contact Lancashire Police or call Crimestoppers.
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