NEVAEH BUCHANAN - 5 yo (2009) - Monroe MI

MONROE - A week after the disappearance of
5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan, Monroe County Sheriff's Office detectives
have arrested a third city man on unrelated charges and have located
two boys they hoped would have information in the case.
Arrested was James Easter, 64, who had been questioned by police, then
dropped off at his Oak Street home about 5 a.m. Saturday. About 15
minutes later, he had built a fire in his backyard and was burning
things, said Monroe County Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield. "We extinguished
the flames. That elevated him a little bit [in terms of interest],"
said Sheriff Crutchfield.
Mr. Easter was arraigned Sunday with a misdemeanor - arson/preparing to
burn property less than $200 - and held in the Monroe County jail on a
$250 bond. He is slated to appear Monday in Monroe County District
Court on the charges.
The front and back doors at Mr. Easter's Oak
Street home were smudged, apparently from having been dusted for
fingerprints. A small sticker on the back door read "5-30-09" and
"Michigan State Police Laboratory." Staff from the Northville, Mich.,
lab searched the site, removed items, and are studying them, Sheriff
Crutchfield said.
The moose-patterned fire ring behind Mr. Easter's small, one-story
duplex was about a yard in diameter. Next to it was a pile of ashes on
a yellow plastic tarp, and a grate. A sealed package of chicken pieces
was on the back deck, as were several baskets of flowers.
Unopened bags of potting soil and peat humus
were piled on white plastic chairs. The yard also had a separately
fenced, well-tended vegetable garden, a home-made shed with a
camper-top for a roof and gardening tools, a dog and a bird cage,
canning jars, and four tires.
Michael Buchanan, Nevaeh's uncle, said he doesn't believe there's a link between Mr. Easter and the girl's disappearance.
With
other relatives, Mr. Buchanan, 26, held down the fort yesterday in a
community room next to the Charlotte Arms complex's still-covered
swimming pool. He has a Monroe County map on which he notes which areas
volunteers have searched.
The sheriff's office said yesterday afternoon it
had identified boys named Ryan and Dillon who were at the Hollywood
Elementary playground between 6 and 7 p.m. May 24, about the time
Nevaeh went missing.
A chain-link fence separates the school playground from a grassy area
at the rear of the apartment complex. The back door of the unit where
the Buchanans live opens onto the grassy stretch.
"Our intent in them is solely as witnesses. We'd like to know what they may have seen," the sheriff said.
A week has passed since the child disappeared while playing on the
grounds of the complex where she lived with her mother, Jennifer
Buchanan, 24, and grandmother, Sherry Buchanan, the legal custodian.
Sherry Buchanan said yesterday she was leaving work May 24 when she
received a call from Jennifer saying she couldn't find Nevaeh.
Since then, police have received nearly 800 tips. About 100 law
enforcement professionals have lent their heft, including 20 to 30
yesterday who took to the streets, following up on leads by talking to
people. Hundreds of people of all ages have volunteered to search for
the little brunette. T-shirts and flyers are being made. And a shrine
of stuffed animals, candles, and messages, under a majestic tree near
the Buchanans' unit and covered by an open tent, continues growing.
Sherry Buchanan said police yesterday took a hand print of Nevaeh, her
hair brush, and her favorite stuffed dog. She warned parents and
caregivers to keep a close eye on their young ones. "I hope it has
woken up Monroe County," she said, adding that in the last week, her
daughter, Jennifer, has spent long hours searching for the child.
Meanwhile, people touched by the drama, from teenagers to senior
citizens, came from Ann Arbor, Bowling Green, and elsewhere, offering
to join the hunt. Dan Pletz sat on the back of his open hatchback car
in the parking lot of a Kmart in Monroe, circling sections of an area
map and suggesting where people could search. He advised them to stay
together and not to touch anything suspicious but to call the tip
hotline, 734-243-7070.
"We had a couple of psychics yesterday tell us about an area and we searched it but didn't find anything," he said.
Tim Dunn drove from Bowling Green to help. The owner of Dunn Funeral
Home and president of Bowling Green Youth Baseball, he said he knows
some Monroe coaches. He explained his motivation for making the 40-mile
trip by pulling out a school photo and putting it next to one of the
missing girl from the newspaper. The photo he holds is of a pretty,
smiling girl with long brown hair wearing a white shirt, hands folded
under chin; it's the youngest of his four children but is strikingly
similar to the image of Nevaeh.
Four teenagers offer to help, promising to search a wooded area near one of their homes.
A man who owns an airplane says he'll fly over any area they'd like him to.
Amy Matthews of Ann Arbor, part of an Internet community called
Peace4themissing, said she has a small granddaughter. "To me, I felt it
was my duty to come and help."
Two "persons of interest" remain in the Monroe County jail for parole
violations: George Kennedy, 39, who is a friend of Nevaeh's mother, and
Roy Lee Smith, 48. The men know each other, and both are convicted sex
offenders.

MONROE, MICH. -- The search for Neveah Buchanan entered its
eighth full day Monday. The 5-year-old girl has been missing since the
evening of Sunday, May 24 when she was last seen playing outside her
apartment complex in Monroe, Mich.The Monroe County Sheriff's
Office says it has a third "person of interest" in the case. James
Easter, 64, was arrested over the weekend. Police say they questioned
Easter about the girl's disappearance. After being interrogated by
police, Easter built a fire in the backyard of his Oak Street home and
burned items, according to Monroe County Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield.Crutchfield
said the fact that Easter began burning items immediately after being
questioned by police led them to name his as a "person of interest."Easter
was arraigned Sunday on charges of arson/preparing to burn property.
He is being held in the Monroe County Jail on $250 bond. On Sunday, police questioned two young boys about Nevaeh's disappearance. The boys, named Ryan and Dylan, may have important information, according to officials.

The Monroe County Sheriff said they'd like to question the driver of a
green box-style minivan that may have more information on the
disappearance of 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan.
Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield also said this morning that James Easter, 64, will
be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. on an arson charge unrelated to Nevaeah's
case. He said information released by Monroe District Court that Easter
will be released today without charges being filed was inaccurate.
He said investigators would like to talk to the driver of a green
box-style minivan seen near the Charlotte Arms apartment complex where
Nevaeh disappeared May 24 while riding her scooter.Today,
Nevaeh's mother, Jennifer Buchanan, remains in seclusion at the
Charlotte Arms apartment complex, where Nevaeh disappeared May 24 while
riding her scooter.
Crutchfield announced Sunday that investigators also were talking to two school-age boys. The boys were
believed to have been at a playground at Hollywood Elementary School, which is just east of Charlotte Arms, around the time when Nevaeh was last seen.
"Our sole interest in them is as witnesses," Crutchfield said.
Easter was arraigned Sunday at the Monroe County Jail on an arson charge after
he was spotted burning something in his backyard around 5 a.m.
Saturday. He was being held on a $250 cash bond and had been scheduled
to be in 1st District Court in Monroe at 10 a.m. Two other men who know
Nevaeh, George Kennedy and Roy Smith, remain persons of interest.
Volunteers continued to search Monroe and surrounding communities Sunday. More
than 130 volunteers gathered at a local Kmart to coordinate search
efforts. The FBI, Michigan State Police and other agencies are also
searching.
Dan Pletz, 38, of Monroe served as a search
coordinator, crossing out areas on a map that already had been searched
and directing groups of volunteers to new areas.
"I have a son and a daughter," said Pletz, who does not know Nevaeh. "If
something happened to them, I would want people to help me find them."
Nevaeh is 3 feet 10 and weighs 45 pounds. She was wearing a light-blue
sleeveless shirt with red and white horizontal stripes and knee-length
jeans when she disappeared.
Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Sheriff's Office at 734-243-7070

The most recently named person of interest in the Nevaeh Buchanan
investigation said in court this afternoon that he was innocent of
arson but admitted burning cardboard in his yard during the weekend.

James Easter, 64, of Monroe
was in court on a misdemeanor arson charge but has been previously
identified as one of several people the task force is looking at
regarding the disappearance of 5-year-old Nevaeh more than a week ago.

In a packed courtroom, Mr.
Easter, handcuffed and wearing a striped jail uniform, told First
District Judge Jack Vitale that he did nothing wrong.





“The charge is not true,” he said. “I did burn cardboard. I did have a fire in back.”


Judge Vitale said he was told
that Mr. Easter is no longer a person of interest in the case and set
bond at $250 on the arson charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 93
days in jail and a $500 fine.

But Monroe County Sheriff
Tilman Crutchfield said that Mr. Easter remains a person of interest
and has not been completely cleared of possible involvement.

“We are not saying he is no
longer a person of interest until we get all our evidence back,” the
sheriff said. “We still have evidence at the lab.”

Investigators became
interested in Mr. Easter after he allegedly was found to be burning
materials in his yard. He also had visited the Charlotte Arms apartment
complex where Nevaeh lives.

Mr. Easter said he hoped to
have a family member post bond soon. He is not allowed to drink alcohol
or possess a firearm, and must complete a court-ordered evaluation.

Mr. Easter is one of three
named persons of interest. He is not a registered sex offender, but was
convicted in 2000 on a misdemeanor indecent exposure charge.

Southfield (WWJ)
-- Monroe County authorities say they have received numerous tips about
a green van that was at a school playground the day five year old
Nevaeh Buchanon disappeared, and they also want to hear from a woman
driving a silver minivan.

At a morning news conference, Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield asked that
anyone who was at the Hollywood School playground between 6 p.m. and 7
p.m. on Sunday May 24th to call the tipline at 734-243-7070.

Crutchfield says investigators are following up on "numerous
tips" about the green minivan, but he said it would be helpful if that
person contacted authorities to save time.

Crutchfield said there was a woman and two small children at the
playground on Sunday and they were in a silver minivan. Police said
they want to talk with that woman. In addition, police are following
up on more than 800 tips including one about an ice cream truck being
at the Charlotte Arms apartments the day Buchanon went missing.

Another tip authorities are following include a psychic prediction that Nevaeh is alive in the Columbus area.

Anyone with information should call 734-243-7070.

MONROE, MICH. -- The Monroe County Sheriff said Tuesday that
his department will no longer hold daily briefings to inform the media
of any developments in the case of missing 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan.
Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield says no press conferences will be held until
there is a substantial development in the case.Authorities continue to solicit information from the public regarding the disappearance of the missing Monroe County girl. Sheriff
Crutchfield says authorities are now looking for a woman and two
children seen in a silver minivan at a nearby elementary school on the
night Nevaeh vanished. He says the woman and children are not
suspects, but that they may have information useful to the
investigation. The van was seen at the school, which is close to the
Charlotte Arms Apartment Complex, sometime between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00
p.m. Sunday, May 24. Nevaeh was last seen playing outside the apartment complex around 6:15 p.m.Authorities are still searching for the driver or owner of a green, boxy-type minivan seen at Hollywood School that same evening.Sheriff
Crutchfield asks that anyone who may have been on the playground of the
elementary school between 6:00 pm. and 7:00 p.m. on the evening of
Sunday, May 24, please contact the Monroe County Sheriff's Office at
734-243-7070.

MONROE — After getting a phone call from
distraught Jennifer Buchanan telling him that her daughter, Nevaeh, was
missing, George Kennedy said he immediately went to the girl's North
Macomb Street neighborhood to look for the 5-year-old.

Kennedy, 39, who was taken into custody on unrelated charges the night Nevaeh
disappeared, told The Blade Wednesday that he drove with his
girlfriend, Savannah Gray, to the child's preschool on Riverview
Avenue, near her home in Charlotte Arms apartments, and then went to
Greenwood Apartments to continue the search.

'I figured maybe she was back there playing. Savannah went one way and I went another
way,' said Kennedy, who has been locked up on an unrelated parole
violation in the Monroe County jail since May 24, when Nevaeh went
missing. '"We went to certain areas that I thought she could be."

After a security guard told him that police had been at the apartments
looking for her, Kennedy said Nevaeh's mother reached him on his cell
phone to tell him that sheriff's deputies wanted to talk to him about
the missing girl because they learned he was a convicted sex offender.

In an exclusive interview with The Blade, Kennedy said he wasted no time
in returning to his Motel 7 room on South Dixie Highway, where he met
his parole officer and sheriff's detectives, who put him in handcuffs
and took him to the jail.

"I ain't got nothing to run from,' he said. 'I went back to the motel room to clear my name."

But Kennedy's past was revealed and his conviction for rape made him the focus of the investigation, he said.

The father of a 12-year-old daughter and an 18-year-old son, Kennedy was
freed in July, 2007, from prison, where he had served part of a two to
15-year sentence for the sexual assault of a teen girl in 1998.

He denied that he kidnapped or killed Nevaeh, who
was last seen riding a scooter in the parking lot of the apartment
complex where she lives.

"I didn't take her and I definitely didn't kill her," he said.

When asked if he knows or suspects who is responsible, he said: "I have no
clue. I wish that I did have some clue. I am hoping that she ain't
dead. I still got my fingers crossed that they are going to find her
alive."

Kennedy admitted that he knew having a relationship with
Nevaeh's mother, 24, whom he met about two years ago at the parole
office, could get him shipped back to prison.

Nevertheless, he said he formed a friendship with Nevaeh's mother, in part, because of loneliness.

"I am 39 years old. I don't want to grow old by myself. I just want a
companion and to be happy. If they got a kid, I don't have a problem
with that and helping them raise kids. I ain't preying on women to be
with their kids," he said.

Kennedy said Buchanan and her mother,
Sherry Buchanan, learned shortly after he met them that he was a
registered sexual offender because they checked his offender status on
a state Web site.

He said Sherry Buchanan, who took custody of
Nevaeh while Jennifer spent 11 months in jail, made sure that he was
never alone with the child.

"I was a father figure to that little girl," he said. "Because I am a sex offender it doesn't mean I
have to bury myself under a rock. I have no regrets about knowing
Nevaeh, her mother, or grandmother. I care about them a lot."

He admitted to giving gifts to Neveah, including the plastic motorcycles that her grandmother showed to the media last week.
Kennedy said he hasn't seen Nevaeh and her mother in more than a month, about the time he began dating Ms. Gray.

In the days after she disappeared, Kennedy and Roy Lee Smith emerged as
persons of interest as more than 100 investigators from local, state, and
federal law enforcement agencies combed for clues, interviewed
witnesses, searched units at Charlotte Arms, and dived into quarries.

Smith, also a convicted sex offender, was taken into custody on a parole
violation stemming from a third-degree criminal sexual conduct
conviction in 1991.
Kennedy said he met Smith, 48, in a sex-offender counseling class.

Kennedy said he was locked up in isolation for eight of the 11 days he has been
jailed, and sheriff's deputies, police detectives, and FBI agents spent
hours questioning him about his whereabouts when Nevaeh went missing
and what he was doing before and after she vanished.

‘Locked down'

"They didn't want me talking to anybody. They had me locked down in a
room for over a week," he said. "They wouldn't let me out for my own
safety because everyone in the county wants to hurt me and crucify me."

He said he was cleared as a person of interest after authorities checked
his alibis against witness statements, receipts, and video surveillance
and came up with nothing.

He said he had used the car of his girlfriend's mother to take friends to the county inmate dormitory
about 7:15 p.m. May 24 to visit their friend. He said he went to the
motel and to a nearby gas station, where he believes he appeared on
video. He went back to the dormitory and took his friends to their home.

Investigators searched Kennedy's motel room after a 5-year-old playmate said she
witnessed Nevaeh being stabbed with a knife after going "into the woods
... to meet Daddy George" and an 8-year-old neighbor boy who said the
girl was kidnapped by a "bad man" and stabbed.

Kennedy said he was 'clueless' to the statements of the children. "That is the first
time I heard of that," he said. He said that Nevaeh was frightened
to go alone into the woods near the apartments.

"She wasn't going to go into the woods for anybody. I just don't see her doing that at all," he said.

Bloodstained shorts, a towel, and blood spots on a wall from his motel bathroom, and
a multiknife tool set taken from a 1993 GMC van that Kennedy was
driving were tested at the Michigan State Police crime lab.

However, Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield said none of the property belonging to Kennedy matched Nevaeh's DNA.

Wound from fishing

Kennedy said there was blood in the motel room because he cut himself
shaving and blood was left in the room after his girlfriend, Ms. Gray,
bled after getting a tattoo. He said that he cut himself with the
multiknife while fishing several days before Nevaeh vanished and may
have left blood on it.

Kennedy said he had traded his Ford Thunderbird to Smith for his nephew's GMC
van. He said he parked the van May 22 — two days before Nevaeh vanished
— at the home of his girlfriend's mother on North Monroe Street after
state troopers cited him for driving it without a valid registration.

Kennedy was convicted in March, 2002, on home invasion and fourth-degree
criminal sexual conduct for the 1998 rape of a 15-year-old girl behind
a gas station in Monroe County.

Kennedy was ordered into a 90-day state residential treatment program last December after parole
violations for moving without approval and violating curfew, said John
Cordell, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections. He was
released from the re-entry program in March.Back to prison?



Mr. Cordell said Kennedy waived a hearing in jail on the recent parole
violation for having contact with Nevaeh and her family and a
recommendation was made to terminate his parole. If accepted, Kennedy
could be sent to prison to serve the remainder of his original two to
15-year sentence.

Kennedy said he didn't want to fight the charges in court because "my parole
officer has been trying to send me back to prison for years."

He said: "I knew I was going to go back to prison."

Monroe County Sheriff's Capt. Dan Motylinski said he could not confirm that
Kennedy was no longer a person of interest in Nevaeh's disappearance.

Kennedy, who grew up in Haskins and Liberty Center, Ohio, southwest of Toledo,
was one month away from being released from parole.

If he had gotten off parole, he said he had planned to move from Monroe to
Ohio to be closer to his son and daughter, who lives with her mother in
Toledo, and other family.

"There are no jobs to get here. There is nothing here for me. I was going to go where my family is at," he said.

Former person of interest in Nevaeh case describes interrogation
Tanveer Ali / The Detroit News

Monroe -- A 64-year-old man, who a district judge said has
been cleared as a person of interest in the disappearance of 5-year-old
Nevaeh Buchanan, said he was held by interrogators for 12 hours,
answering questions such as "How do you think they did it?" James
Easter said he made a mistake by answering that question outright,
claiming that if he was the one who had abducted Nevaeh on May 24, he
would have "took my vehicle behind the nail salon nearby and called to
her with a Kit Kat." "When you're an innocent man, they keep
telling you this and that," Easter said. "All I could keep telling them
is, 'I didn't do it.' "
Easter was arrested over the weekend on unrelated arson charges, and he was released on $250 bail after his arraignment Monday. District
Court Judge Jack Vitale said the county prosecutor and county sheriff
had cleared Easter from Nevaeh's case, but the Monroe County Sheriff's
Office says they continue to look at every possible scenario and
wouldn't comment on any potential people of interest. Monroe County
Sheriff's Maj. Dan Motylinski said the department would not comment on
any claims made by Easter. Easter said he learned of Nevaeh's
disappearance when he was called by a girlfriend who lives at the
Charlotte Arms Apartments, where the girl had disappeared while playing
alone in the parking lot. His girlfriend said she needed a ride to the
store, saying the apartment complex was abuzz over the missing girl, he
said. "I had a hard time thinking in my head," Easter said of the questioning. He
told authorities he had been at Kmart that night. He said investigators
tried to pin him down, acting like Nevaeh was at the store with her
mother that day. "They kept telling me, 'you followed her out of Kmart,' " Easter said. Easter
said investigators took DVDs, personal photos and other possessions,
leaving his home a mess Friday. Authorities returned Sunday, digging up
his backyard. Easter is one of three people of interest made
public in Nevaeh's case. George Kennedy and Roy Smith, both sex
offenders who knew Nevaeh's mother, are being held on possible parole
violations. Investigators are offering a $20,000 reward for
information that could lead to finding Nevaeh. Anyone with tips is
asked to call (734) 243-7070. In an interview with the Toledo
Blade on Wednesday from the Monroe County Jail, Kennedy also said he
didn't take Nevaeh and began searching for her after learning of her
disappearance. Kennedy told the Blade blood police found in his
motel room came from cutting himself shaving and from his girlfriend
after she got a tattoo. Human blood found on a multitool, he said, came
from a fishing accident. The sheriff's office has said none of the
blood is Nevaeh's. Meanwhile, the task force is searching for
two minivans, one green box-style and the other silver, that were
parked at the Hollywood Elementary School when Nevaeh disappeared. The
silver minivan was likely driven by a mother who was with her two small
children.

Monroe -- Monroe County Sheriff's Department investigators on
Thursday found a child's body west of Monroe that may be the body of
the missing 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan. Police cordoned off an area near the River Raisin around Dixon Road in the area of Ida-Maybee and Neiman roads. Evidence
experts were preparing late Thursday to examine a body that searchers
discovered that had clothing similar to what Nevaeh was wearing when
she disappeared from her Monroe home on May 24, a person familiar with
the investigation said.
Sheriff's department and FBI officials would not confirm they had
found the child's body. No positive identification of the body had been
made by early Thursday evening. Nevaeh's uncle, Michael
Buchanan, told The Detroit News: "The police just informed us, 'If you
hear something from us again, it'll be positive,' (meaning there's a
body)." If the body is the missing child, it will mark a tragic
end to the search in an investigation that has focused, in part, on
friends of the girl's mother who have criminal records for sexual
offenses. Nobody has been charged in the case. Earlier
Thursday, a 64-year-old man, who a district judge said has been cleared
as a person of interest in the girl's disappearance, said he was held
by interrogators for 12 hours, answering questions such as "How do you
think they did it?" James Easter said he made a mistake by
answering that question outright, claiming that if he was the one who
had abducted Nevaeh on May 24, he would have "took my vehicle behind
the nail salon nearby and called to her with a Kit Kat." "When
you're an innocent man, they keep telling you this and that," Easter
said. "All I could keep telling them is, 'I didn't do it.' " Easter was arrested over the weekend on unrelated arson charges, and he was released on $250 bail after his arraignment Monday. District
Court Judge Jack Vitale said the county prosecutor and county sheriff
had cleared Easter from Nevaeh's case, but the Monroe County Sheriff's
Office says they continue to look at every possible scenario and
wouldn't comment on any potential people of interest. Monroe County
Sheriff's Maj. Dan Motylinski said the department would not comment on
any claims made by Easter. Easter said he learned of Nevaeh's
disappearance when he was called by a girlfriend who lives at the
Charlotte Arms Apartments, where the girl had disappeared while playing
alone in the parking lot. His girlfriend said she needed a ride to the
store, saying the apartment complex was abuzz over the missing girl, he
said. "I had a hard time thinking in my head," Easter said of the questioning. He
told authorities he had been at Kmart that night. He said investigators
tried to pin him down, acting like Nevaeh was at the store with her
mother that day. "They kept telling me, 'You followed her out of Kmart,' " Easter said. Easter
said investigators took DVDs, personal photos and other possessions,
leaving his home a mess Friday. Authorities returned Sunday, digging up
his backyard. Easter is one of three people of interest made
public in Nevaeh's case. George Kennedy and Roy Smith, both sex
offenders who knew Nevaeh's mother, are being held on possible parole
violations. Investigators are offering a $20,000 reward for
information that could lead to finding Nevaeh. Anyone with tips is
asked to call (734) 243-7070. In an interview with the Toledo
Blade on Wednesday from the Monroe County Jail, Kennedy also said he
didn't take Nevaeh and began searching for her after learning of her
disappearance. Kennedy told the Blade that blood police found
in his motel room came from cutting himself shaving and from his
girlfriend after she got a tattoo. Human blood found on a multitool, he
said, came from a fishing accident. The sheriff's office has said none
of the blood is Nevaeh's. Meanwhile, the task force also is
searching for two minivans, one green box-style and the other silver,
that were parked at the Hollywood Elementary School when Nevaeh
disappeared. The silver minivan was likely driven by a mother who was
with her two small children.

Mother says body of 5-year-old daughter found along River Raisin

BLADE STAFF


MONROE — Authorities acting on a tip this
afternoon shifted their search for 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan to an
area near Dixon Road near the River Raisin in Raisinville Township.
Reports that a body had been found were not confirmed by the Monroe
County Sheriff’s Office. Jennifer Buchanan, Nevaeh’s mother, said she
had been told that her daughter’s body had been found.

Updated at 8:47 p.m.

A body found
near the River Raisin is believed to be that of 5-year-old Nevaeh
Buchanan, who disappeared from her Monroe home May 24.
Jennifer Buchanan, Nevaeh's mother, has not been informed if the body is her daughter, according to her friend.
But
Ryan Bickley, 15, said his father, Guy Bickley, found the body this
morning when he was by the river fishing with his grandfather around 11
a.m.
The teenager said the body was encased in a cement block
and they could smell it. His father, he said, chipped a piece of cement
away and saw skin and when he saw skin, he stopped and called police.
The block was near the water.
Nevaeh's mother is huddled with friends at her apartment in Monroe.
She
has not been informed if the body is her daughter, according to her
friend, Holly Howerton, 35, of Monroe, who has spent the last two weeks
at her side.
“We are just sitting here waiting to find out,” Howerton said at 8:22 p.m.
Howerton said they don't know anything other than “what is being said on the news.”
“We
are waiting at the house, so whenever the police officer does come and
let us know if it is or isn't" Nevaeh's body, Howerton said. “So we are
here.”A mobile
command unit, which signifies intense police activity, arrived earlier
this evening at the area of Dixon Road and Sullivan in Raisinville
Township. Police were acting on a tip that the body of Nevaeh could be
buried there.
A medical examiner truck also arrived at the scene.
Volunteers
claimed to have found a clump of long brown hair, said the Rev. Dale
Hayford, senior pastor of Crosswalk Community Church in Monroe.
Barricades kept traffic away from North Custer Road, west of Ida Maybee Road.
Since
Nevaeh's disappearance, police have zeroed in on a few men with
histories of sex assault convictions, but no one has been charged in
the case and leads are dwindling.
One man, George Kennedy,
39, told a Ohio newspaper this week he had nothing to do with the
girl’s disappearance. In fact, he told the Toledo Blade, he helped the
girl’s mother search for Nevaeh.
Earlier in the day,
firefighters from area departments sent over not only volunteers, but
also equipment, to breathe new life into the nearly two-week search.
“Good things are happening,” said Elisa Boyer, 31, of Monroe. “I hope this is what we needed.”
Firefighters
from agencies such as Monroe, Monroe Township, Ida Township and Dundee
are being tracked electronically into a system usually reserved for
battling blazes.
The fireTRAX program logs who searches
where, then allows that volunteer to move onto another unsearched area
when finished, said Monroe Township Firefighter Joe Hernandez.
“We
want to help any way we can,” said Ida Township firefighter Mark
Andrews, 19. “We hope to find her alive, but finding her in any way
will help the family.

Updated at 9 p.m.

A body found near
the River Raisin is that of 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan, who disappeared
from her Monroe home May 24, the Monroe Evening News has reported.The paper said police have spoken to the family.
Ryan
Bickley, 15, said his father, Guy Bickley, found the body this morning
when he was by the river fishing with his grandfather around 11 a.m.
The
teenager said the body was encased in a cement block and they could
smell it. His father, he said, chipped a piece of cement away and saw
skin and when he saw skin, he stopped and called police. The block was
near the water.
Nevaeh's mother is huddled with friends at her apartment in Monroe.
A mobile command unit, which signifies intense police activity,
arrived earlier this evening at the area of Dixon Road and Sullivan in
Raisinville Township. Police were acting on a tip that the body of
Nevaeh could be buried there.
A medical examiner truck also arrived at the scene.
Volunteers
claimed to have found a clump of long brown hair, said the Rev. Dale
Hayford, senior pastor of Crosswalk Community Church in Monroe.
Barricades kept traffic away from North Custer Road, west of Ida Maybee Road.
Since
Nevaeh's disappearance, police have zeroed in on a few men with
histories of sex assault convictions, but no one has been charged in
the case and leads are dwindling.
One man, George Kennedy,
39, told a Ohio newspaper this week he had nothing to do with the
girl’s disappearance. In fact, he told the Toledo Blade, he helped the
girl’s mother search for Nevaeh.
Earlier in the day,
firefighters from area departments sent over not only volunteers, but
also equipment, to breathe new life into the nearly two-week search.
“Good things are happening,” said Elisa Boyer, 31, of Monroe. “I hope this is what we needed.”
Firefighters
from agencies such as Monroe, Monroe Township, Ida Township and Dundee
are being tracked electronically into a system usually reserved for
battling blazes.
The fireTRAX program logs who searches
where, then allows that volunteer to move onto another unsearched area
when finished, said Monroe Township Firefighter Joe Hernandez.
“We
want to help any way we can,” said Ida Township firefighter Mark
Andrews, 19. “We hope to find her alive, but finding her in any way
will help the family.”

http://www.wxyz.com/news/state/story/PAPER-Relative-Says-Nevaehs-Body-Found/h9RAk9v0Ikmsy0LW057cYA.cspx

"RAISINVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - The body of a missing 5-year-old girl from Monroe has been found near the River Raisin in southeast Michigan, one of the girl's relatives told a newspaper Thursday night.

Police officers have spoken to the family and a relative told The Monroe Evening News that the child found earlier Thursday was Nevaeh Buchanan. The body was found about seven miles from where the girl last was seen May 24 in the parking lot of her apartment complex in nearby Monroe.

...."

RAISINVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Sherry Buchanan was clinging to hope that her missing 5-year-old granddaughter was still alive, despite the chilling discovery of a child's body near a river in southeast Michigan.

Police officers have spoken to Nevaeh Buchanan's family and a relative told The Monroe Evening News that the child found earlier Thursday was the missing girl from Monroe. The body was found about seven miles from where Nevaeh last was seen May 24 in the parking lot of her apartment complex in nearby Monroe.

Buchanan said police told her a body had been found. But she said she wouldn't be certain it was her granddaughter "until I see that baby's face ... I'm not giving up hope yet because it could turn out to be another baby."

"They told me they won't know for sure until the DNA test is in," Buchanan said. "It hurts. It hurts not knowing."

The Monroe County Sheriff's Department would not comment on the case Thursday night. A news conference was planned for Friday morning.

An area near the river in Raisinville Township, about 35 miles south-southwest of Detroit, was cordoned off as police investigated late into Thursday night.

They recovered evidence from a shallow grave along the River Raisin's edge that had been covered with some kind of fast-drying cement powder, the Detroit Free Press reported early Friday.

At the 108-unit apartment complex where Nevaeh lived with her mother and grandmother, about 100 people showed up Thursday night to pay tribute to the missing girl. A makeshift shrine outside the house featured a large pasteboard with a drawing of Nevaeh's face encircled by a heart: "Nevaeh, we will find you." Another read: "We miss you. Please come home."

Ryan Bickley, 15, told The Associated Press that his father, Guy Bickley, 51, discovered the body encased in cement Thursday morning while fishing the River Raisin.

The teen said his father and grandfather were fishing from shore when Guy Bickley spotted a block of poured cement and noticed a bad aroma that he likened to a decomposing body. He said as his father moved closer to the cement block, the smell "overwhelmed them.

"His father then chipped away a piece of the cement, revealing what appeared to be human skin. The men immediately called police.

A task force of federal, state and local law enforcement has been working 24 hours a day to find Nevaeh. Neighbors, friends and family members also have organized search groups.

There have been no arrests in the case.

George Kennedy, 39, a registered sex offender, was one of at least two men previously identified by police as a "person of interest." Kennedy told The Blade of Toledo, Ohio, in an interview published Thursday that he went to look for Buchanan after hearing from her mother she had gone missing. Another man was cleared of involvement.

Kennedy is in custody on a parole violation. He is a friend of Nevaeh's mother.

Authorities said the body of a small
child found encased in cement near a Michigan river is the same size,
age and gender of 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan and they have "reasonable
suspicion" it is that of the missing girl.
An autopsy is being conducted on the little girl's remains, found by a
father and son fishing along the banks of a river in southeast Michigan.
"The body appears to be of the same age, size and sex of Nevaeh Buchanan,"
Monroe County Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield told reporters Friday at a
news conference. "We have reasonable suspicion that this is the body of
Nevaeh."
The medical examiner's findings will confirm whether the body is that of the missing child, who last
was seen May 24 in the parking lot of her apartment complex in nearby
Monroe, Mich., about seven miles from the grisly find.
A shirt was found that resembles the one Nevaeh was wearing when she vanished, Crutchfield said.
The remains appeared to have been there for "quite some time," according to
Crutchfield. He wouldn't discuss specifics on persons of interest or
suspects in the case, but did describe the culprit as depraved.
"It is a very sick or disturbed person we are looking for," he said.
Investigators hope autopsy and toxicology test results will confirm a cause of death.
There were no obvious signs of violence to the body, Crutchfield said.
The body appeared to be buried in a shallow grave, said Andrew Arena,
special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit office. Investigators were
returning to the river's edge Friday to look for more evidence.
The discovery of the body suspected to be Nevaeh should allow investigators
to focus on finding the person responsible, Crutchfield said.
That person "to our knowledge is still out there in the community," he said.
When the girl's mother, Jennifer Buchanan, was told about the body, "she
broke down, and broke down hard," said Michael Buchanan, her brother.
"She couldn't believe her daughter had to go through this," he said, adding
that if it is Nevaeh's body it provides "some type of closure, even if
it is for the worst."The remains and other evidence were recovered
from a shallow grave along the River Raisin's edge that had been
covered with some kind of fast-drying cement powder, the Detroit Free
Press reported early Friday.
Ryan Bickley, 15, told The Associated Press that his father, Guy Bickley, 51,
discovered the body encased in cement Thursday morning while fishing
the River Raisin.
The teen said his father and grandfather were fishing from shore when Guy Bickley spotted a
block of poured cement and noticed a bad aroma that he likened to a
decomposing body. He said as his father moved closer to the cement
block, the smell "overwhelmed them."
His father then chipped away a piece of the cement, revealing what appeared to be human skin. The men immediately called police.
There have been no arrests in the case.
George Kennedy, 39, a registered sex offender, was one of at least two men
previously identified by police as a "person of interest."
Kennedy told The Blade of Toledo, Ohio, in an interview published Thursday that
he went to look for Buchanan after hearing from her mother that she had
vanished.
Another man was cleared of involvement.
Kennedy is in custody on a parole violation. He is a friend of Nevaeh's mother.

One mention of the name Nevaeh around this sleepy community and eyes
well, hands wring and heads fall. Even as reality sinks in, residents
don't want to believe it's true.Law
enforcement officials this morning announced that they have recovered
what is likely the body of 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan, who had been
missing since May 24. She was last seen riding a scooter in the parking
lot of her apartment complex.
"It's such a small town, and I
think that's why everyone is so upset about it," said Monroe resident
Sonya Cosby, 22. "I'm glad that they found her regardless of if she was
dead or alive because at least she's at peace now."
Cosby,
who has two children, ages 2 and 4, was shopping at Kmart -- the same
place where hundreds of volunteers gathered daily to search for the
missing Monroe tot. The parking lot is noticeably empty today.
"I
guess we can take this down now," Kmart employee Kerry Bidolli said of
the flyer of the girl's smiling face still hanging in the store window.

At about 11 a.m. the store manager used the blade of a box cutter to remove the sign. His hands shook as he completed the task.
Residents here describe their emotions in mostly one-word answers: Heartbroken. Sad. Disappointed. Angry.
"Who
would want to hurt that innocent girl?" asked Bidolli, as she shared a
cigarette break with three other coworkers. "My son keeps asking me if
I think they'll find her or if they'll find her body. I don't know what
to tell him. I'm glad he was already in bed, and didn't hear last
night. But I have to tell him something. I think he knows someone took
her that should not have."
Bidolli, 37, who lives in Plymouth
with her 7-year-old son, Tyler, said she thought she worked and lived
in safe communities, but now she's not so sure.
"I'm worried
because just like nothing ever happens in Monroe, nothing ever happens
in Plymouth," she said. "You just never know."
Added Cosby:
"I see a lot of children playing outside by themselves and that
obviously can't happen anymore. I hope they find whoever did this
because I won't be at ease until they do."

Now that the body of 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan has likely been found,
investigators are in the midst of painstakingly combing the banks of
the River Raisin for clues, an FBI agent said this morning.
"Every inch of soil needs to be sifted," said Special Agent Andrew
Arena. "It's tedious and, honestly, a little dangerous for our
searchers along the steep riverbank."Law-enforcement
officials this morning confirmed that a body found Thursday by
fishermen matches Nevaeh in height, gender and description. Family
members haven't identified the body yet, said Monroe County Sheriff
Tilman Crutchfield, but it appears to be the girl who went missing May
24.
Two fishermen discovered the body under a layer of what
appeared to be concrete that had been poured over a shallow grave,
Arena said.
The girl had been buried there "for quite a while," Crutchfield said.
Arena
said the concrete mix poured atop the body might have been mixed with
river water. The grave was inches from the river, he said.
While
FBI profilers are working to try to narrow down the type of individual
likely responsible, Crutchfield said "that person, to our knowledge, is
still out in the community."
"I'm of the opinion this is a sick and disturbed person we're looking for," he told reporters.
Officials
wouldn't comment on the ongoing investigation except to say they've
fielded more than 1,000 leads and they're following each of them.
The girl hadn't suffered obvious trauma, officials said. Wayne County's medical examiner will conduct the autopsy today.
Under
contract to do all of Monroe County's autopsies, the Wayne County
Medical Examiner's Office received the body overnight, Chief
Investigator Albert Samuels said just before noon. Removed from the
concrete used to conceal it, the body still needs a formal
identification, he said.
"We have to positively identify
that’s who this is," he said. The autopsy should be done sometime this
afternoon. "We’re doing dental work as well as the autopsy.”
"When a body is recovered like this, it's difficult for a layman" to
tell the cause of death, Arena said. "There were no apparent blows to
the head or anything like that."
The fishermen said they
found the body about noon Thursday. Crutchfield said that a task force
arrived about 3 p.m. and confirmed that the site indeed was a burial
spot.
The area is cordoned off during the search by land,
air and water, Crutchfield said. Divers will be searching the water and
analyzing the soil.
Crutchfield said the discovery has been difficult for investigators.
"Most
of the people involved have children or grandchildren of that age, so
it's very personal for them," he said. "It's heartbreaking."
Nevaeh's uncle, Mike Buchanan of Newport, arrived at his sister's
Monroe apartment complex at about 10 a.m. today, still grasping "that
1% chance it still might not be" Nevaeh's body. He said Nevaeh's
mother, Jennifer Buchanan, who remains in seclusion, is understandably
devastated.
"She can't believe her daughter had to go through this," he said.
Mike Buchanan said he wasn't sure if the family planned to travel to Detroit to see if the body there is Nevaeh.
"If
it is, we do have some type of closure, even if it is for the worst,"
her uncle said. Grateful to the two fishermen who made the discovery,
Mike Buchanan hurts for them, too. "I feel sorry for them," he said.
Mike Buchanan paused for composure, his face reddening, when asked about those responsible.
"I hope they get the most punishment possible -- no matter who it is."
Anger
percolated from the Buchanans' cousin, Shaun Lawson, who asked those
gathered if allegations his little cousin was found entombed in
concrete was true.
"If she was, it would have to be one of
the most sickest individuals across this nation," Lawson said. "She
didn't deserve to die. She didn't deserve to be kidnapped. And you're
still walking these streets. I hope you get what's coming to you -- and
you will."Hundreds of volunteers had searched daily for Nevaeh, marking off with black marker areas they'd covered on a tattered map.
Three
men, each with sexual assault backgrounds, have been questioned. At
least one has been eliminated as a person of interest; no one has been
arrested in the disappearance and apparent death.

Nevaeh Buchanan’s father, Shane Hinjosa, is in a battle with his
emotions. He says he’s spent the last 24 hours in a state of hope — and
hurt — since fishermen found a body that could be that of his missing
5-year-old daughter.
“We don’t know for sure if it was Nevaeh,” Hinjosa said this
afternoon, referring to the body that was recovered Thursday in a
shallow grave along the banks of the River Raisin. “I’m just hoping and
praying that she’s still alive out there.”
Around 4:30
p.m., a Monroe County sheriff’s deputy arrived at the apartment complex
where Nevaeh went missing on May 24. Hinjosa said the deputy, who left
without commenting, inquired about getting fingerprints of the girl to
try to identify the body.
“They can’t do dental records because Nevaeh had never been to the dentist,” he said.
Hinjosa said he’s waiting by the phone for law enforcement officials to call. He wants to see that body. If it’s someone else’s child, he said, he hurts for those parents, too.
Nevaeh or not, “whoever did this needs to be punished badly,” he said.

MONROE — The man who called authorities after
finding a body on the banks of the River Raisin said he and his father
unknowingly walked atop a concrete block not knowing it contained a
body.
Guy Bickley, 51, told The Blade Friday morning that the body — believed
to be that of 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan — was encased in some sort of
concrete ready mix just feet from the river near Dixon Road in
Raisinville Township.
Mr. Bickley said he and his 72-year-old father, who was visiting from
out of state, went to the river to fish about 9:30 a.m. Thursday. They
were sitting on the rocks and also walked over a piece of concrete,
which Mr. Bickley said he occasionally kicked his foot at it.
He said they noticed a foul odor but thought it was decaying fish.
The father and son were at the river for about
two hours before Mr. Bickley said he again kicked his foot into the
concrete and a piece flipped off of it. Then he saw flies and
discovered human skin.
They immediately called 911 and police authorities and said they waited
at the scene for about two hours until an officer arrived.Nevaeh disappeared from the parking lot outside her Monroe apartment complex the evening of May 24.
She was last seen riding her scooter at the complex.
Jennifer Buchanan, the mother of Nevaeh, first told The Blade Thursday
night that police informed her the body may be that of her daughter.
Authorities believe that it is likely that the body is that of Nevaeh Buchanan during Friday's press conference.
Shaun Lawson, a cousin of Nevaeh’s mother, confirmed that Sheriff Lt.
Todd Opperman told family members that authorities thought they had
found the 5-year-old girl’s body.
He said the body was about the same height, had similar hair color, and
was clothed similarly to the way Nevaeh was dressed when she
disappeared.
The officer told the family that the body was found
not in the river but on the river bank near Dundee and near a dam on
the river.
“I’m sorry it had to take Nevaeh’s life to bring
a community back together like this,” Mr. Lawson said. “We need a
neighborhood watch on every corner and every sex offender should have a
sign in their yard. I feel absolutely sorry for the person who did
this. God forbid if we find whoever did this,” he said.

Sherry
Buchanan, Nevaeh’s grandmother who had custody of the little girl, said
she was told by authorities that until a DNA match was finalized, they
couldn’t be sure it was Nevaeh’s body that was discovered.

“I’m not giving up hope until I see the body,” her grandmother said.

Police cordoned off an area near Dixon Road near the River Raisin yesterday in the area of Ida-Maybee and Neiman roads.

Sheriff says killer probably local

by Ray Kisonas , last modified June 06. 2009 1:15AM

Monroe County Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield said the person responsible
for the death of Nevaeh Buchanan is probably a local person because the
place where she was found buried is rural and not well-known.

"It’s someone who knows the
area," the sheriff said Friday night. "In my mind, it’s someone from
around here. I don’t think anyone would come up from Ohio or California
and just come across this place."

The cause of death will not be
available immediately, the sheriff said, because lab tests have to be
completed. However the body, which was buried along the banks of the
River Raisin off Dixon Rd., did not have any obvious signs of trauma,
Sheriff Crutchfield said.
"There were no obvious injuries," he said.
Evidence had been collected at
the scene, but the sheriff would not divulge details. He said tests
must be completed before anything is determined. An autopsy was
performed Friday at the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office.
"I wouldn’t expect anything
from the autopsy for a couple of days," the sheriff said. "There’s a
lot of analysis that needs to be done."
At a press conference Friday
morning, the sheriff said the task force is continuing to follow more
than 1,000 tips and leads in hopes that a suspect is developed soon.
"This is a sick and disturbed
person we’re looking for," he told reporters. "(The task force) is a
group that is committed to resolving this crime."
On Friday night, the site
where fishermen discovered the body encased or covered with concrete
was reopened. Although evidence had been recovered at the scene of the
burial, a search of the river did not produce much success.
"We didn’t recover anything of value from the river," Sheriff Crutchfield said.
Although all indications are
that the body found is Nevaeh, the sheriff said officials are waiting
for DNA results to be 100 percent sure.
"It’s our opinion that this is Nevaeh," he said.
Funeral arrangements will not
be decided until later, said The Rev. Dale Hayford of Crosswalk
Community Church. Rev. Hayford said family members were "as good as can
be expected" and a Sunday church service was planned for mourners.

In the rush for answers after Nevaeh Buchanan's disappearance, Monroe
County sheriff's officials floated several names of possible suspects
-- men with sexual assault convictions.
But on Friday, the day that Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield confirmed
that a body found Thursday likely belonged to the missing 5-year-old,
none of those names was mentioned."Task
force investigators have continued to follow up on tips and leads,"
Crutchfield said. "We've received approximately 1,000 tips since the
task force was formed."Asked
more pointedly about the investigation, Crutchfield said only that
investigators will continue following leads "wherever they might take
us."Many tips
were dead ends. One search warrant said an 8-year-old friend of
Nevaeh's saw a man stab her in the woods after she disappeared, but the
boy's mother said Friday that he saw nothing.That
tip helped fuel speculation that a convicted sex offender with a bloody
knife in his hotel room might have been the killer. But DNA evidence
showed the blood didn't belong to Nevaeh.That
man, George Kennedy, 39, and another convicted sex offender, Roy Lee
Smith, 48, remain in jail while the Michigan Department of Corrections
investigates possible parole violations. Both are friends of Nevaeh's
mother whose paroles forbid them to have contact with children or
anyone who has children.Another man, a 64-year-old Monroe resident, has been cleared in the disappearance, authorities have said.

Barb Rothman put her arms around her husband and her chin on his shoulder as the two stood just feet from the little girl’s crude waterside grave.

The Dundee Township couple had carefully made their way down the slippery, steep hillside leading to the spot — one they had been to before on happier occasions, to fish.

“We had a son killed ourselves,” Fritz Rothman said as his wife’s eyes welled with tears. “We know what it’s like to lose a child. It’s a shame it had to come to this.”

The serene spot is believed to have served for two weeks as 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan’s grave after she was abducted May 24 from outside of her Monroe apartment complex.

While autopsy results are still pending, officials with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office reiterated today that they’re tracking down leads to look for a killer.

DNA evidence has been shipped to Michigan State Police in hopes of positively identifying the girl, a sheriff’s official said, because family members said Nevaeh never had her teeth X-rayed for dental comparisons.

The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office had not released the cause of death, saying further testing is needed because there were no outward signs of trauma or other obvious indicators explaining how the girl died.

The girl’s family could ultimately be asked to view the body for visual identification, authorities said.

Since Nevaeh disappeared, a makeshift memorial has grown outside of her Charlotte Arms apartment complex.. Today, that memorial had spread to the spot along the River Raisin off Dixon Road where fishermen discovered a little girl covered in a cement mixture inches from the water.

Passersby prayed at the riverside. Some stayed atop the hill, near the road; others felt compelled to climb down and place flowers near the displaced soil.

“This hits home,” said a tearful Phillip Gibson, 52, of Monroe, who climbed down with a flowered-covered cross to place graveside.

Gibson said his 30-year-old son, Scotty, was shot to death 2 1/2 years ago. Like the Rothmans, he said he sympathizes with Nevaeh’s family.

“I hope they get him,” he said of the culprit. “I wish they’d let me at him, but I guess that should be left up to God.”

That mix of anger and anguish was obvious at Nevaeh’s apartment, too, where the tent covering dozens of stuffed animals and balloons had been adorned with signs advocating the death penalty.

“Majority of this country has it, Michigan needs to have it and they should start with the person(s) responsible for this tragic loss,” the signs read.

“Why should this person be allowed to live?”

Cheryl LaPierre, 43, of Monroe said tragedies such as this one will forever affect the whole community.

“I don’t let him go anywhere no more,” she said, motioning to her 8-year-old son, Jimmy Pocock, who placed a teddy bear and stuffed dog in the memorial. “It’s sad.”

Barb Rothman said she hopes some good can come from the loss. She and her husband lost their 2-year-old son Darrell in a car wreck, she said, and take comfort knowing that he’s in “a better place than this world can ever be.”

Added her husband: “It’s a terrible loss, but you have to figure out a way to bring some positive out of the negative.”

http://www.freep.com/article/20090607/NEWS05/906070501/1007

Amid suspicion and public scorn, Jennifer Buchanan denies killing daughter Nevaeh





BY JEFF SEIDEL • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
• June 7, 2009

MONROE, Mich. — As investigators
await test results on a child's body found by a southeastern Michigan
river, the mother of a missing 5-year-old girl says she's "completely
innocent."
Monroe County authorities said Sunday they're pursuing leads as they wait for
DNA evidence to confirm the body is that of Nevaeh Buchanan, reported
missing May 24.
The child's remains were discovered Thursday next to the River Raisin.
Jennifer Buchanan tells the Detroit Free Press she "didn't have anything to do
with" her daughter's disappearance and doesn't know who would want to
harm her child.
Buchanan's mother got custody of Nevaeh after Buchanan was found guilty of breaking into homes to support a drug habit.
The three were sharing an apartment in Monroe, Mich.
On Friday, authorities said the body found encased in cement by fishermen
belongs to a child the same size, gender and age of the missing girl
and they had "reasonable suspicion" it is Nevaeh. A shirt resembling
the one she was wearing when she vanished also was discovered.

MONROE, Mich. — The family of missing
5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan is waiting for the results of an autopsy to
determine if the body found by a southeastern Michigan river last week
is that of the little girl.
Authorities said Monday the identification hinges on DNA results, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The child's remains were discovered Thursday next to the River Raisin.
Clothes found on the body matched those Buchanan was wearing when she
was reported missing May 24.
On Friday, authorities said the body found encased in cement by fishermen belongs
to a child the same size, gender and age of the missing girl and they
had "reasonable suspicion" it is her.
A pathologist told the Free Press Monday that determining the cause of
death may be difficult, especially if reports saying there were no
gunshots, stab wounds or broken bones are true.
"You would have a lot of problems," Werner Spitz told the newspaper. "You
would not find evidence of drowning, you would not find bruising, you
would not find strangulation."
He said because of the high temperatures, the decomposition process would've been sped up."In this weather, even if she was dry at this
time of year, you would find a lot of difficulty in finding evidence of
blue-and-black bruising marks, abrasions or skin injuries," Spitz said.
"Drowning is a difficult diagnosis to make when the body is fresh, so
you can imagine what it would be like now."