Family members and friends felt the 56-year-old woman had to be somewhere close to her west side Saginaw home. In the end, they most likely were right.
"A person walking their dog had located a deceased female," Det. Sgt. Joe Dutoi said.
A man and his dog made the grisly find on a bank near the Saginaw River, not far from Old Saginaw City. This is just a few blocks from where Frenzel was last seen early Jan. 1.
Dutoi believes it's the missing woman. "It appears that way. We have notified the family. Obviously, there is more investigation that has to be done, but for intent and purposes, it appears to be Ms. Frenzel."
The discovery most likely ends 10 days of searching for the Frenzel family and friends. She was last seen by family members at her home on Webster Street shortly after ringing in the new year. Family members say Frenzel had a history of mental illness.
A canine team was brought in to search for her, looking through nearby neighborhoods and abandoned homes.
"I knew the outlook wasn't going to look too good, just, you know, after so long with her being gone for so long," Brandon Luense said.
Luense, a family friend, was still surprised to learn where the body, believed to be Frenzel, was found. "So close to home. I mean , honestly, the dogs, we went past here, we pretty much went right past her."
"There's all kinds of ice fisherman on the river," Dutoi said. "You really can't understand why somebody didn't see her back there.
A cause of death is not known. "It's being treated as a suspicious death. There is nothing that leads us to believe this is a homicide," Dutoi said.
Police hope to do an autopsy on the body as soon as possible.
