Topic: Missing NH Girl's Body Found
Lpdon's photo
Mon 08/01/11 03:31 PM
(CNN) -- One week after 11-year-old Celina Cass was last seen, her body was found Monday by divers searching the Connecticut River, New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said.

"We have brought Celina home, not the way we wanted to bring her home," said Young.

The official added that the case -- which had been considered a "missing persons" case -- is now being investigated as a "suspicious death." No one has been arrested or named publicly as a suspect.

"Based on what we have seen visually, we are treating it as suspicious," said Young.

Celina's body was found Monday morning by divers from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department near a hydroelectric plant outside West Stewartstown, New Hampshire, according to attorney general's office.

The site was about one-quarter mile from the girl's home, said Young. It is also near the Canadian border, where the Connecticut River forms the border between New Hampshire and Vermont.

The discovery came a day after Celina's father pleaded for the safe return of the New Hampshire girl.

The father, Adam Laro, who said that he's recovering after being recently released from a hospital, sent a message Sunday to his daughter that "Daddy is OK now, I'm getting much better." He did not detail why he had been hospitalized.

He added that he was, like others, "wondering where my daughter is" and hoping she was safe.

"Whenever you want to come home, Celina, Daddy will be here waiting for you," Laro said Sunday.

Celina was last seen in her room, at her computer, around 9 p.m. last Monday, according to police. CNN affiliate WMUR reported that her parents told authorities the girl was gone when they went to wake her up Tuesday morning.

Since then, local, state and federal investigators searched for her and for clues about her whereabouts "by air, by land, by water," Young said Sunday evening.

Friends had set up a Facebook page, "Missing Celina Cass," with one of the fliers serving as a profile picture. She was last seen wearing a pink shirt, pink pullover and blue shorts.

Young said on Monday that authorities, including FBI agents, had received about 500 leads prior to finding the girl's body. She stressed that the investigation is ongoing.

An autopsy will be conducted on Celina's body on Tuesday morning in Concord, New Hampshire, said Young.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/08/01/new.hampshire.missing.girl/index.html?hpt=ju_c2

I knew this case wasn't going to end well once I read the BAU was involved.