Family remembers young mother found dead in submerged car in Boston

BOSTON (WJAR) — Massachusetts State Police said Friday they found a man and a woman dead inside a submerged car in the Reserved Channel leading to the harbor in the Boston Seaport.

Police did not immediately release their names but said they are "young adults."

On Friday, family members and close friends identified the female victim as 21-year-old Tatianna Morales of New Bedford, who was a young mother of two children.

"Tatianna was the most sweet, loving and innocent person," said Yeison Giron, Morales' high school sweetheart and father to her 1-year-old son. "She would put anyone before her."

Giron said Morales was last seen Tuesday night in Roxbury, Massachusetts, going to pick up her son. When she didn't, Giron said he knew something was wrong.

"She texts me and calls me every night," he told NBC 10 News Friday. "And it's not like her to just leave our son and disappear for a night. She would never do that."

State police said they responded to Black Falcon Avenue at about 12:30 p.m. after a sport utility vehicle went into the water at that location earlier this week.

A Boston Fire Department diver found the car in about 40 feet of water roughly 15 feet out from the pier.

The diver "marked the location, surfaced, and notified [state police] divers who were arriving on scene," said police.

Authorities said the "divers were able to extricate the female victim and bring her body to shore" but the man couldn't be "extricated from the vehicle while underwater, so divers hooked tow cables to the entire vehicle and a truck winched it out."

In a poster shared by family and friends, Morales was reportedly last seen with a friend named Djovany Pierre.

"She's just amazing," said one of Morales' family members. "A big heart, a joy. She's the thread that keeps the family together. She's kind of like the other mother in the family. She's just an amazing young lady."

The incident is under investigation.