Alanna Gallagher Update: Family car, memorial display for murdered 6-year-old set ablaze overnight, Texas police say
(CBS) SAGINAW, Texas - Police in Saginaw, Texas say a makeshift memorial set up to honor Alanna Gallagher, a 6-year-old child found murdered earlier this month, was set on fire overnight. According to CBS DFW, the family's car was also torched.
Alanna's nude body was found bound and covered with a tarp on a residential street in Saginaw on July 1. Police have not yet listed any suspects in the child's murder and no arrests have been made.
"It's very disheartening at this time, because of course we're having to shift manpower to this investigation off of the Alanna Gallagher case," Damon Ing with Saginaw Police said. "Now we have to investigate an arson."
The station reports that Ing says the fire was clearly intentional, but it is unclear whether the person(s) responsible have any connection to the girl's murder.
"It did happen at the same residence where [Alanna] did reside, but right now the investigation is still in its beginning," Ing said. "As far as having any attachment, we don't know."
CBS DFW reports hundreds of items have been seized from the Gallagher home, including duct tape, belts and restraints.
Last week, Alanna's father expressed the family's desperation for answers.
"I know that the odds are high that it's a family member in this sort of situation," Miles McDaniel said. "I can tell you that anyone that knows our family would know better."
The FBI has reportedly placed a number of digital billboards around the Dallas-Fort Worth area in hopes of soliciting tips. The billboards mention a reward of $10,000 for information that leads to the killer's arrest.