Brittany Ritter, 37, was discovered in an Elkhart rail yard after disappearing from the Holland, Ohio, area days earlier.
ELKHART, Ind. — A 37-year-old Ohio woman reported missing from the Toledo area has been identified as the person found dead on top of a stopped train car in northern Indiana, authorities said, leaving investigators working to determine how she died and how she reached the train.
Brittany Ritter of Holland, Ohio, was found Sept. 3 at a Norfolk Southern Railway yard in Elkhart, according to the Elkhart County Homicide Unit. Ritter had been reported missing to the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office after she was last seen or heard from in the Holland area during the late-night hours of Sept. 1 into the early morning of Sept. 2.
A Norfolk Southern employee reported finding an apparently deceased person on top of a stopped train car at about 11:56 a.m. Sept. 3 in the rail yard near the 2600 block of West Lusher Avenue, Elkhart police said. Officers and other first responders arrived and confirmed that the woman was dead. Her identity was not known publicly when authorities first announced the discovery.
The Elkhart County Homicide Unit was activated under local protocol and initially investigated the death with Norfolk Southern Police. Authorities later identified the woman as Ritter and determined that she had previously been reported missing in Ohio. Elkhart officials announced the positive identification Sept. 10.
Investigators learned that the train carrying Ritter had arrived from the east and traveled west before stopping at the Elkhart rail yard, according to the homicide unit. Authorities have not publicly explained where or when Ritter came into contact with the train, whether she boarded it voluntarily or the circumstances that led to her death.
The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office said during the search that Ritter might have been traveling by bicycle. Her family had been unable to contact her and was concerned about her welfare. Authorities have not announced whether investigators located the bicycle or established Ritter’s movements after she was last known to be in the Holland area.
Police have also not released a cause or manner of death. In its Sept. 10 update, the Elkhart County Homicide Unit said the autopsy report was not yet complete. The existence of a homicide-unit investigation does not establish that Ritter was killed; the unit was activated as part of the response to the unexplained death.
After Ritter was identified, the Elkhart County Homicide Unit turned its investigation over to the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, the agency that had taken the missing-person report. Ohio authorities said they were working with law enforcement in Elkhart as the investigation into the circumstances of her death continued.
Ritter’s death drew attention because of the distance between Holland and Elkhart and the unusual location where she was found. Published reports have described the cities as roughly 130 miles apart, but investigators have not released a complete timeline showing the train’s route or Ritter’s movements between Ohio and Indiana. Those unanswered questions remain central to the investigation.
The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office said no additional details would be released while the case remains active. As of Saturday, authorities had not publicly announced Ritter’s cause or manner of death or explained how she came to be on the train car.
Author note: Last updated September 12, 2026.