Colorado police searching for missing Jessica Ridgeway, 10, since last Friday said they have found a body in the vicinity of where the girl went missing. It is not confirmed whether the body belongs to the Colorado youth. The body was found in Pattridge Park Open Space late Wednesday near an abandoned mining shack. Police said the search for the missing girl will resume today. Authorities determined that Ridgeway, a fifth-grader with blond hair, was kidnapped by an unknown suspect on her way to school earlier this month. The only real clue police have revealed thus far is the discovery of a backpack and water bottle that Ridgeway had with her six miles from her home. The multi-agency search for the girl was assisted by a social media push that had #JessicaRidgeway trending on Twitter. Police have received hundreds of tips. On Wednesday, reports say about 25 deputies arrived by bus and fanned out across Jessica’s neighborhood, scouring bushes and front yards. Divers again searched several ponds in what Westminster, Colo., police spokesman Trevor Materasso described as a “precautionary measure.” Police have isolated trash from Ridgeway’s neighborhood at a landfill, but will search there only if the investigation points them in that direction. Critical was an initial delay in reporting Ridgeway missing. Many child abduction cases or Amber Alerts are resolved within hours of a report. Sarah Ridgeway said her daughter woke up at 7:45 a.m. Friday as usual and ate a granola bar before leaving to meet friends at a park about a block away. There, they would meet to walk together to Witt Elementary School. Police say Sarah Ridgeway, a night-shift worker, was asleep and missed a call from school reporting Jessica absent; she got a message eight hours later, at 4 p.m. Sarah Ridgeway checked the park, Ridgeway’s friends and the school before calling police. Ridgeway never even met her friends that morning.
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Jessica Ridgeway Case: Unidentified Body Found Where Colorado Girl Disappeared
