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Authorities are searching for a 22-year-old graduate student who went missing early Sunday morning in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Eliotte Heinz was last seen walking near the waterfront just before 3:30 a.m. Sunday, according to the La Crosse Police Department.
Less than an hour before she was last seen, she was with friends at Bronco’s Bar in the city’s downtown area. The bar closed at 2:30 a.m.
Her family, friends and police made several attempts to locate her with no success, officials said in a statement.
Eliotte Heinz, 22, is a gradudate student at Viterbo University. (Photos courtesy of Amber Heinz)
The incident comes six years after University of South Carolina student Samantha Josephson, 21, was kidnapped and murdered by Nathaniel Rowland, who was posing as a rideshare driver, on March 29, 2019.
On the way home from the college town’s Five Points bar scene, in the early morning hours, Josephson mistook Rowland’s car for an Uber and was abducted.
During a police search for Josephson, an eerily similar sidewalk photo to Heinz’s was distributed by local authorities.
Nathaniel Rowland was found guilty in the 2019 killing of 21-year-old Samantha Josephson. (Columbia Police Department via AP)
However, Heinz’s mother told Fox News Digital it is unclear if her daughter was attempting to call an Uber or Lyft when she disappeared.
Uber and Lyft did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.
Josephson was stabbed more than 100 times, and her body was later found in a wooded area more than an hour from her pickup location.
State Circuit Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Rowland to life in prison.
Anyone with information about Heinz’s whereabouts is asked to call the police non-emergency number at 608-782-7575.
Information can also be sent anonymously to La Crosse Area Crime Stoppers at 608-784-TIPS or submitted online at https://www.p3tips.com/459.
The La Crosse Police Department declined Fox News Digital’s request for comment, citing the active investigation.
Bronco’s Bar did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.
