WOOSTER, Ohio – One person is in police custody, after a 9-year-old girl was found dead in a dumpster on Sunday.
Sheriff Travis Hutchinson, of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, said Jerrod Metsker, 24, had been arrested around 1:00 p.m. Sunday in connection to the girl’s death.
The body of 9-year-old Reann Murphy was located inside of a dumpster near her home in Smithville, a village in Wayne County, Ohio, early Sunday morning.
After Murphy was last seen playing outside in the community area of her neighborhood about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, a call came into police reporting her disappearance around 8:30 that same night.
Authorities said Metsker was a neighbor of the girl and knew her and her family. It was also reported that the two of them had been seen together.
First responders began looking for the girl, and around 1:30 a.m. they made the discovery of the girl’s body inside the dumpster.
“Any violent death is troubling but the death of a child is much more so. We will leave no stone unturned as this investigation continues,” Sheriff Hutchinson said to FOX 8.
Police and investigators were on the scene beginning early Sunday morning, and have been interviewing other neighbors to find out if they saw or heard anything going on Saturday night.
The dumpster where Murphy was found was said to have been in the middle of a courtyard near about 15 to 20 trailer homes inside a park.
According to Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Lutz, Metsker is facing charges of aggravated murder. An autopsy will be performed on the girl to help officials determined how she died. Authorities did not comment on the nature of the murder or any evidence they had collected.
(Source: FOX 8 Cleveland)
