Family Mourns Muskogee Teacher Found Dead After Reported Missing For Days

The family of a Muskogee teacher was grieving Thursday night after she was found dead earlier that day; she was reported missing last Saturday night. 

Amanda Harms was known by her friends as Mandi. She was a mother of three and a grandmother to a little boy. 

She taught sixth-grade math at Muskogee Public Schools and turned 46 on Sunday. Shelley Townsend, Harms's mother, always knew her daughter would grow up to be a teacher.

"She was she was a good person. She loved kids, and I actually told her that when she was young that she should be a teacher when she grew up," she said.

Mandi earned her master’s in education.

"She was an amazing teacher, just big-hearted, caring, and just loved her family and her students," Natalie Townsend, Mandi’s sister, said.

Mandi normally celebrates with her mother every year, but this year, on her birthday, Mandi was missing.

"Not being able to wish her happy birthday or, you know, buy a cake and celebrate her birthday,” her mother said. “It's just sad."

Mandi was found five days after she was reported missing. During three of those days, the temperature dropped well below freezing.

"She couldn't have survived. It was too cold. If she was out in this cold, she wouldn't have survived," said Shelley.

When Shelley got the call that her daughter had been found dead, she was devastated.

"It was like a ton of bricks,” she said. “Your heart is broken. You'll never be the same again.”

Her family says Mandi battled addiction, but they are holding on to their good memories of her.

"She did have some ups and downs, of course. But family was everything to my daughter, and just a hard worker, kind, and caring person," said Shelley.

"It's going to be hard, but I know she's in a better place right now,” Natalie said. “I know I'll see her again one day."

Shelley says Mandi moved to Illinois when she was 19 and moved back to Muskogee two years ago. 

Records show she got a DUI in November and had been to court for that case on Friday, then went missing the next day. 

Muskogee Police say the medical examiner will determine her cause of death. Police said that thus far, there are no signs of foul play.

A GoFundMe account in support of Amanda Harms can be found HERE.