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<h1>Vt. police believe they've found teacher's body</h1>

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ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. — Vermont police found a body in a remote area Monday that they believe is that of a beloved teacher at a New England boarding school whose SUV was found running with her unharmed 2-year-old inside.

Authorities will continue to seek a suspect in the disappearance of 33-year-old Melissa Jenkins, Vermont State Police Maj. Ed Ledo said at a news conference Monday night. The public should be vigilant, he said.

He would not give details on the condition of the body found in Barnet, a town not far St. Johnsbury, where the single mother's vehicle was discovered Sunday evening near signs of a struggle. An autopsy was planned for Tuesday.

"We're all just in shock, and we have no answers or any ideas of any direction to look," Marty Beattie, Jenkins' uncle through his first wife, said earlier. "We'd all be doing anything we could right now."

A friend who was looking for Jenkins called police Sunday night. Her vehicle was found not far from her home in a rural area at 11:30 p.m. She had no restraining orders out on anyone, police said.

Jenkins taught science at St. Johnsbury, a boarding school of about 970 students that was established in the 1840s and whose alumni include former President Calvin Coolidge. It also serves as a public school for the town of St. Johnsbury.

She was also a girls freshman basketball coach and was a dorm proctor until she had her son. She graduated from Lyndon State College with a degree in natural science and geology. She was working on her master's degree, headmaster Tom Lovett said.

"She's got a real gift with students who either haven't liked science before or learning science doesn't come easy to them," Lovett said Monday afternoon. "She's got a real gift with them."

She was also a waitress at night at The Creamery Restaurant in Danville, where co-workers, friends and the father of Jenkins' son gathered Monday afternoon while the restaurant was closed.

"We all know her. It's a tough thing right now," said Marion Cairns, the owner, who described Jenkins as bright, pretty, a good mother and fun to be around. "She'd cut her arms off before she'd let anybody touch that boy. I mean, that boy meant everything to her."

A family friend is caring for the boy. His father, B.J. Robertson, would not comment on Jenkins' disappearance.

Eric Berry, 44, of Lyndonville, a cousin by marriage whose daughter is Jenkins' goddaughter, described her as a beautiful, kind person whom he believes was coming to someone's aid when she disappeared.

"She left her house with the idea, I think, to try to help somebody, and that's as far as I'm going to go with that, because I don't want to damage any investigation," he said. "Again, she was someone that was always trying to help somebody in the world, and I think that's what happened."

He told students of her disappearance in an assembly in the chapel Monday morning. Some, especially the dozen seniors she met with each morning as their adviser, were "very emotional," he said.

He said he told the students, "The best we can do for each other and Miss Jenkins is to be hopeful."