Somer Thompson Body Likely Found, Says Florida Sheriff

By: Edecio Martinez
Topics: Missing

(family photo)

Photo: Somer Thompson, left.

ORANGE PARK, Fla. (CBS/AP) Florida police now say the frantic search for 7-year-old Somer Thompson has likely ended in a landfill where the body of a young girl was found Wednesday.

PICTURES: Somer Thompson Murdered

Police have tentatively identified the body as Thompson, who has been missing since Monday from Orange Park, Fla., a suburb of Jacksonville.

Sheriff Rick Beseler said Thursday that the identification was based on clothing on the body and a birthmark that matched the girl's.

The partially covered body of the child was found in a Georgia landfill near the Florida state line, after investigators followed garbage trucks leaving the neighborhood where the child disappeared on her way home from school.

Beseler said at a news conference he still fears for the community until a suspect is apprehended. He wouldn't talk about what evidence police have recovered, or whether investigators believe the crime was committed by one or more people.

An FBI forensic unit is helping process evidence from the landfill.

PICTURES: Somer Thompson Murdered

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
October 21, 2009 - Search for Missing 7-Year-Old Somer Thompson Leads to Body in Landfill
October 20, 2009 - Somer Thompson Vanished After School, Seven-Year-Old Girl Missing in Orange Park, Fla.

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