Brittany Mae Smith Update: Does Suspect Have Help Hiding Missing Va. Girl After Mom Found Dead?

ROANOKE, Va. (CBS/WDBJ/AP) A police chief in Virginia says he believes someone may be hiding 12-year-old Brittany Mae Smith and a man she disappeared with, after the child's mother was found dead.

PICTURES: Brittany Mae Smith Missing

Roanoke County Police Chief Ray Lavinder also said Wednesday morning that a warrant has been issued charging 32-year-old Jeffrey Scott Easley with abduction.

Lavinder said at a news conference that Easley and Brittany seemed to "just drop off the face of the Earth" without much money.

That's why he thinks someone is helping Easley evade a nationwide search.

Authorities found the body of Brittany's 41-year-old mother, Tina Smith, at her home in Salem on Monday.

Smith was Easley's live-in girlfriend. Authorities have ruled the death a homicide but aren't saying how she died.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Roanoke County Police Department at 540-562-3265 or the Virginia State Police at 800-822-4453.

COVERAGE OF BRITTANY MAE SMITH ON CRIMESIDER