METAIRIE, La. -- A local family's worst nightmare became real last week when DNA testing confirmed the body found under the I-55 overpass last month was their loved one, 21-year-old, Kerry Keating.
Keating had been missing since November. His family had searched frantically for him but without results.
"I feel like it's a bad dream that I'm going to wake up from any day now," said Kerry's sister, Jessica.
For nearly two months, Jessica Keating's family has feared the worst, but has been hoping for the best after her brother went missing.
"It's as if I'm living someone else's life," she said. "I spoke with him last on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving but the last phone call he had with nephew ended at 12:10 am on November 28. Kerry would do anything for anyone he loved, and he especially loved his family."
Kerry was last seen November 28 at the Kenner Wal Mart. Authorities say he was making a purchase. That same day, deputies spotted his truck on I-55, but Kerry was nowhere to be found.
"I do think there is someone else involved, absolutely!" she said. "Both front corners of the car were damaged. He had a rear broken axle and all his belongings were found inside of the vehicle with one exception. That exception being his keys to his apartment and his vehicle."
On February 2, a DNA Test confirmed the body found last month near Kerry's truck in the water, was in fact him. Sill, Jessica says there are matters in the case they want answered.
"I do not believe he jumped off of that bridge on his own," she stated. "He was either pushed off, or yes it was a homicide. And I would like to know where his keys are because that would answer a lot of questions as to why his apartment was rummaged through. Why it wasn't treated as a crime scene?"
Jessica also tells Eyewitness News that she believes authorities are treating the case differently because of her brother's past drug-use. She says he'd recently turned his life around and had found work as a sheet metal mechanic's assistant.
"There's clearly something more to this that we're not being told," she said. "It doesn't matter if he was using drugs or not, I mean, people have problems. We're human."
It may be a waiting game for answers, but Jessica says she'll do whatever she has to to get her family the closure needed.
"We would like this case solved," she said. "He's someone's child, he's someone's loved one, sibling, uncle. He deserves it."
Eyewitness News reached out to the St. John the Baptist Sheriff's Office who released a statement that says, "We are treating this investigation as a homicide and are planning to meet with the family next week to bring them up to date on the investigation."
Toxicology results are also still pending in this case.