Searchers found a womans body, covered in leaves, just inside a wooded area near the Oak Village subdivision where the missing 44-year-old lived.
I just saw a huge big pile and it looked abnormal, you know, it just looked like it was covering up something. So I just started kicking away at it and just saw her body and her hair, said Allison Rockwell, who found the body.
Leilis sister, Amy Elk, said, Theres just a pile of leaves and we saw blond hair and I called 911.
The medical examiner has not positively identified the body, but the family said they were sure its her.
He cant identify her from her face, he said shes in really, really bad shape, but based on identifying features that we gave him, we are reasonably sure its her, Elk said.
Nique Leili
I knew, I think in the back of my mind I knew. She would have never left her girls, Harriet Garrett, Leilis mother, said.
The mother of three girls disappeared on July 9. Family members said her husband alerted them that she was gone.
He has security cameras all over the house and he claimed that she turned off the security cameras before she left. Elk said. He waited two days to report her missing. And he filed for divorce and shed been gone for four days. She didnt take her car, or her cell phone or anything and he told me that theyd had a huge fight.
Investigators are talking with Leilis husband and searching the couples home. But police said he is currently not a suspect.
I wouldnt classify him as a person of interest. Anytime a friend or a family member goes missing, we want to talk to everybody thats been involved with that persons life and get as much information as possible on whats going on, Cpl. J. Roberts of the Gwinnett County police said.
As police investigate, the family said they were already planning Leilis funeral.
She was so beautiful. She had a sense a humor, she was a devoted mother and she was so smart, Garrett said.
The medical examiner has asked the family for dental records to help identify the body. The family said they may have a positive ID by Monday.
