Somer Renee Thompson’s body has been found in a Georgia landfill, according to Florida law enforcement officials.
The 7-year-old went missing on Monday (10/19) as she walked home from school about a mile from her Orange Park, Florida neighborhood. Thompson was arguing with another child when her older sister scolded her. Upset, Thompson walked ahead of the group and was never seen alive again.
Acting on a hunch, Florida investigators followed dump trucks heading for a Georgia landfill on the Florida/Georgia border about 48 miles from where Thompson was last seen.
Investigators found the girl’s partially covered body amid the trash and refuse in the landfill. A positive ID was made from the clothes she was wearing and a birthmark.
“I fear for our community until we bring this person in. This is a heinous crime that’s been committed,” said Sheriff Rick Beseler.
Beseler said breaking the news to the girl’s devastated mother was “the hardest phone call I’ve ever had to make in my life.”
“This has been so unreal for the neighborhood,” said Sharon Galloway, who lives across the street from the Thompsons. “I just hope they get that son of a gun and tie him up by his short hairs.”
Florida police are interviewing 70 registered sex offenders in the Orange Park area.
