Police: Body Is Missing Student
Remains Found In Wooded Area Are Those Of Virginia College Student
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Play CBS Video Video Unidentified Body In Behl Case Richmond, Va., police found a body in a shallow grave about 75 miles away from Taylor Behl's dorm room. Authorities are unsure if it is her and are trying to identify the remains.
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Video Body May Be Missing Student's Authorities found a body buried in a shallow grave in a heavily wooded area 75 miles east of Richmond, Va. They're not sure yet if it's 17-year-old Taylor Behl, as reporter Jim Nolan revealed.
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Taylor Marie Behl (AP)
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The site where the body was found (AP)
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Behl's mother, Janet Pelasara, and Richmond, Va. Police Chief Rodney Monroe on The Early Show last month (CBS/The Early Show)
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Authorities said they used dental records to confirm 17-year-old Taylor Behl's identity, but they do not know how she died.
Earlier today, Behl's mother said she believed the remains were her daughters.
"The body found is most likely my baby's," said Janet Pelasara during a news conference at her home in Vienna, Va.
Taylor Marie Behl, 17, left her dorm last month with her mobile phone, a small amount of cash, a student ID and her car keys. She told her roommate she would be back in a few hours.
The teen's car was found two weeks later, less than two miles from her dorm. Her car's license plates had been replaced with Ohio plates reported stolen several weeks earlier.
"During the past week, we have gone into a mode of searching locations that we knew Taylor to have visited based on statements, based on photographs, based on a host of other things," said Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe. "That is what led us to this particular location."
Local, state and federal officials created the task force to search for the 17-year-old who was last seen leaving her Virginia Commonwealth University dorm on Sept. 5. Behl's 18th birthday is Oct. 13.
Monroe said investigators from VCU discovered the body buried in a heavily wooded area on private property in Mathews County, about 75 miles east of Richmond.
The location is across the road from the Chesapeake Bay, reports Cindy Pena of CBS affiliate WUSA-TV.
A 38-year-old amateur photographer who was one of the last people to see Behl was questioned by police in her disappearance. Ben Fawley was arraigned last week on 16 counts of possession of child pornography and ordered held without bond.
However, police aren't saying whether Fawley is a suspect or that anyone is at this point, reports Tim Trudell of CBS affiliate WTVR-TV.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mike Jagels said authorities have found at least 30 videos on Fawley's computers depicting children as young as 1 in sexual acts. Neither Behl nor Fawley appear in any of the videos, Jagels said, and Fawley has not been charged in Behl's case.
According to Fawley's attorney, the photographer had a romantic relationship with the teen, and Jagels said the two had sex on several occasions.
©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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