Body of Kidnaped 7-Year-Old Girl Found Buried Among Boulders Near Illinois Creek
SOMONAUK, Ill. — A sheriff’s deputy found the body of a 7-year-old kidnaping victim buried among boulders beside a creek, the FBI said Tuesday.
The body, identified through dental records as that of Melissa Ackerman, was discovered Monday evening in an area about 20 miles west of the gravel road where she had been abducted on June 2 when riding her bicycle.
The clothes on the body matched the ones worn by the girl on the day she was abducted, and a necklace that read “Missy” was found on the body, FBI agent Bob Long said.
Long said there was no information available Tuesday evening on the cause or time of death or on whether the girl had been sexually assaulted.
He said more than 1,000 potential suspects had been questioned in the case and that the investigation into the child’s disappearance was continuing.
Hundreds of law enforcement agents and volunteers had searched a wide area around Somonauk, a rural town of 1,300 residents 60 miles west of Chicago, for the girl.
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