How Did Police Solve The Mystery Of Somer Thomson’s Killer
How Did Police Solve The Mystery Of Somer Thomson’s Killer:Garbage trucks were the key to finding seven-year-old Somer Thompson‘s body and garbage trucks may be the key to finding her killer.
Officials say investigators tailed nine garbage trucks from Thompson’s Florida neighborhood to a Georgia landfill and then picked through the trash as each rig spilled its load.
They sorted through more than 225 tons of garbage before the little girl’s body was found.
At a news conference, Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said the quick discovery of Somer‘s body, two days after she disappeared, may have saved precious evidence that could lead to her killer.
“Had we not done this tactic,” Beseler said. “I believe that body would have been buried beneath hundreds of tons of debris, probably would have gone undiscovered forever.”
Searching landfills is common when children disappear, but it is unusual to try to zero in on them more efficiently by tracking a neighborhood’s garbage trucks, said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Somer vanished on her one-mile walk home from school Monday in a heavily populated residential area, about a mile from a stretch of fast-food restaurants and other businesses, in the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park.
Searchers combed the area before investigators, following garbage trucks that collected trash Tuesday, spotted her lifeless legs in a landfill about 50 miles away.
An autopsy to establish the cause of death is done, but authorities Thursday would not disclose their findings. Beseler would not say if Somer had been sexually assaulted or answer other questions about the condition of the body.
So far the police have questioned more than 155 registered sex offenders in the area. State online records show 88 sex offenders live in Orange Park, a suburb of about 9,000 people just south of Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
Now as the search for a missing girl turns into the search for her killer, the garbage trucks may again play a pivotal role.
Investigators will presumably try to pinpoint the trash bin or garbage can where she was dumped, based on the trash around her and the truck’s pickup route. That could hopefully help them piece together a better timeline and offer a firmer direction for the investigation.
Source:http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/23/crimesider/entry5413428.shtml
Categories: Usa News Tags: somer, somer florida, somer thomas, somer thompson, somer thompson autopsy
Somer Thompson’s Body Found In Landfil,First Coast News
Somer Thompson’s Body Found In Landfil,First Coast News:A body found in a landfill as that of 7 year old Somer Thompson, a
north Florida girl who disappeared on her walk home from school,
the sheriff in charge of the case said Thursday.
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 Monday.
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.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation planned an autopsy Thursday.
The landfill is in Folkston, Ga., about 48 miles from where the
girl disappeared.
Somer vanished on her mile-long walk home from school in Orange Park. She was squabbling with another child, and her sister told her to stop. The girl got upset, walked ahead of the group and
wasn’t seen again.
Orange Park is a suburb of Jacksonville just south of Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The area where the girl disappeared is a heavily populated residential area with homes, apartment complexes and condominiums.
The girl’s father, Sam Thompson, lives in Graham, N.C.
Source:http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/sheriff-somer-thompson-s-body-found-in-landfill-1.1538224
Categories: World News Tags: first coast news, somer, somer thompson, sommer thompson, sommer thompson missing
