SAUGUS ― The body of a woman found in marshland off Route 107 Tuesday has been identified as Sherell Pringle of Woburn, who was last seen on Saturday, and foul play is suspected in her death, according to Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office.
Pringle, 40, was reported missing by her son after she did not return home on Saturday night, Blodgett’s office said in a statement Tuesday evening.
A trooper found a “deceased body” at 1:12 p.m. in a marsh alongside Route 107 northbound in Saugus, State Police spokesman David Procopio said.
Investigators suspect foul play but have not made any arrests, according to the statement. The district attorney’s office is investigating in cooperation with State Police detectives and Lynn, Saugus, and Woburn police.
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More than two dozen police and emergency vehicles lined the right travel lane of Route 107 northbound, as investigators pored over an area near the Rumney Marsh Reservation, where Pringle’s body was found.
Family and friends stood by the dozens across the roadway, which is also known as the Salem Turnpike. Among them was Pringle’s 19-year-old son, Jahmani Larionne, who reported his mother missing to police on Sunday, after she did not return from a date.
“As a son, if you’ve got a mom and she’s got a boyfriend, please check up on your mom,” he said. “I should’ve [done] that. I should’ve checked and said, ‘Are you good? Are you sure?’”
Pringle’s mother sobbed while family members rubbed her back and embraced her. Others stood mostly still, occasionally shaking their heads in disbelief.
“Everybody knew her, and everybody loved her,” said Ayanna O’Brien, a friend who said she’d know Pringle since she was 12. “That’s why you see all of these people out here today. The whole community is heartbroken by this.”
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Pringle radiated happiness, they said, and approached every challenge with a positive attitude.
“She always had a beautiful smile,” said Glen Wilder, her cousin. “Always happy. Everything was always good with Sherell.”
Pringle, O’Brien said, worked as an event promoter, and was particularly proud of staging an annual black-tie dance.
O’Brien said she could not understand how someone could harm a woman who was “so full of life.”
“How could you do this to someone you were supposed to care about?” she said through tears. “They just left her on the side of the road like an animal.”
Aeisha Pringle, a cousin, said in a telephone interview that Sherell Pringle and her boyfriend were last seen together at a Boston nightclub around 1:30 a.m.
The cousin said Sherell Pringle’s brother and other relatives had been looking for her nonstop since she stopped returning telephone calls and text messages. She said Sherell Pringle’s brother and other searchers were among the people who found her body Tuesday afternoon.
“She spent the day with her mom and told her she was going out on a date. That was it. Nobody heard from her,” Aeisha Pringle said. “This is what it is, she was found, and she was found dead.”
Police said Tuesday they would like to speak with Sherell Pringle’s boyfriend, the last person she was known to be with.
.@WoburnPolice are seeking the public's help looking for Sherell Pringle. If you have any information please call 781-933-1212, ext. 4856 pic.twitter.com/Ywh5u7d95B
— DA Marian Ryan (@DAMarianRyan) December 21, 2021
The boyfriend may be driving a maroon 2014 Toyota Avalon. The boyfriend “is not the registered owner of this vehicle,’’ police wrote.
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Anyone with information on Pringle or the boyfriend is asked to contact either the Lynn or Woburn police.
John R. Ellement and Jeremiah Manion of the Globe Staff and correspondent Jeremy C. Fox contributed to this report.
Andrew Brinker can be reached at andrew.brinker@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @andrewnbrinker.