Indian-origin woman missing since New Year's Day found dead in trunk of her car in US

A 34-year-old Indian-origin woman who was reported missing two weeks ago has been found dead under mysterious circumstances in the trunk of her car in the US state of Illinois, according to media reports.

Sureel Dabawala was reported missing by her family on January 1 after she failed to return to her home in Schaumburg, Illinois on December 30, Schaumburg Police Department said in a statement.

She had gone to work out at a gym and was last seen driving her car. She never came home after that, her family was quoted as saying by the Chicago Tribune.

On Monday, the Chicago Police Department contacted Schaumburg Police to report that a deceased person had been recovered from the inside of the vehicle owned by missing endangered, Dabawala from Schaumburg, the statement said.

The Chicago Police Department is handling this as a death investigation, it said.

After private investigators hired by Dabawala's family located her white sedan parked in Chicago's West Garfield Park neighbourhood, Chicago police officers were called there, Chicago police spokeswoman Kellie Bartoli was quoted by the Chicago Tribune.

The trunk of the car was opened, after her father arrived with the keys of the car.

Dabawala was found wrapped in a blanket and authorities later pronounced her dead, it said.

The medical examiner's office released her identification on Tuesday. However, results from an autopsy could not be completed on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the office said.

Toxicology results take at least a month to arrive. In autopsy cases in which they're required, no details of the investigation are released until those results are available, Natalia Derevyanny, director of communications for the Cook County Bureau of Administration, was quoted as saying by dailyhearld.com.

Dabawala's sister said her family was not yet sure what happened to her sister, and they were awaiting updates from the police and information from the autopsy before speculating about her final moments, the report said.

Dabawala had completed her MBA from University Chicago and was working at a medical center managed by her father, who is a doctor, abc7Chicago.com reported.