St. Louis ballet dancer vanishes, car found abandoned

Missouri State Highway Patrol(ST. LOUIS) — Investigators are searching for a missing St. Louis ballet dancer after her car was mysteriously found abandoned in rural Missouri, authorities said.

Raffaella Stroik, 23, was last seen Monday morning at a Whole Foods in Town and Country, just outside of St. Louis, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said Tuesday.

A state park ranger found her empty car on Monday in a boat ramp parking lot in Mark Twain Lake State Park, the state highway patrol said. The state park, in rural Monroe County, is about 130 miles away from St. Louis.

A trooper checked again Tuesday morning and found the car still in the lot, authorities said.

Investigators determined Stroik, of St. Louis, was missing, and searched the surrounding area, authorities said on Tuesday.

Stroik is a South Bend, Ind., native who joined the Saint Louis Ballet Company in 2017, according to the company’s website.

She is described as having brown hair and brown eyes and often wears her hair in a ponytail or a braid, authorities said. She stands at 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs about 115 pounds.

She was last seen wearing an olive-green jacket, navy pants with white zippers on the sides, a long pink scarf and white tennis shoes.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Missouri State Highway Patrol at 660-385-2132.

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