LSU students hold prayer vigil for missing Opelousas teen
BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) -- As the search continues for a missing LSU freshman student from Opelousas, classmates gathered to pray for her safe return. Singing began at sunset on a levee overlooking the Mississippi River. Kori Gauthier's loved ones leaned on one another shedding tears.
The prayer vigil was fully organized by LSU students. Many of them didn't know Kori, but they came out because they resonated with her story and want her found.
"As a student, I feel like I have to do something. Like there's no way I can sit back and let this go without me being on the ground and trying to do something to help out," expressed fellow freshman Bria Joseph.
She said the prayer vigil was first and foremost for the family.
"I want her to walk back to her family, so that they can see her, hug her, hold her again, but I also want them to feel like the student body is behind them. We support them whatever it takes," Joseph said.
Other students needed the event for themselves after the long week.
LSU Sophomore Jonathan Borqe admitted, "It felt very scary, and I feel like if this could have happened to me or anyone else I knew, how would the school handle it?"
Many of the couple hundred students who came out to support Kori expressed they hope the LSU administration will do something campus wide to show solidarity with the family, but in the meantime, they won't stop sending love, support, and prayers until Kori is found.
Student vigil organizer, TJ Polk, didn't know Kori, but said, "We are doing everything we can on social media, putting up fliers, driving up and down Port Allen, Baton Rouge, around the community, making sure we put Kori's face and name out there and that we find Kori.
Kori’s family said she was last seen late on Tuesday, April 6, 2021, before her car was found early Wednesday morning after another driver crashed into it.
The driver who crashed into Kori’s car said nobody was inside of it at the time.
Police found her cell phone and purse inside of the car. Kori’s family tracked her phone to a local tow yard, but Kori was nowhere to be found.
Her family says she got into an argument with her boyfriend the day of the accident. They say he was one of the last people to see her and claim he isn’t cooperating in the search for her.
Anyone with information related to Gauthier’s whereabouts should contact local law enforcement at either (225) 578-3231 or (225) 389-2000.