11-year old girl kidnapped, murdered about 5 minutes from my hometown.

Girl's Body Found In Cemetery in Constantine, MI

CONSTANTINE (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Preliminary autopsy results indicate that 11-year-old Jodi Parrack was a victim of homicide.

Her parents reported her missing Thursday night when she went out riding her bike and never came back.

Several hours later a search party scoured the neighborhood and found her body in the city's cemetery.

A little girl with no medical problems, no drug problems and a clean bill of health, found dead in the cemetery with no physical evidence on her body.

Jodi was missing for six hours. She was last seen with friends before heading home on her bicycle at 4:45.

At 10:32, her mother discovered her body in the Constantine Township Cemetery.

That's where investigators combed the scene Friday morning, tagging potential evidence, looking for footprints, tire tracks, pieces of clothing, anything that can help them solve this case.

Both Jodi's body and her bicycle were found just a few feet from one another. Again, no physical evidence on her, no signs of strangulation, no bruising and no gun shot wound.

"To be found in a remote location like that at 10:30 at night, you always wonder why in the world that would be, and police officers tend to be cynical anyway so you always look at it as suspicious," said Chief Mark Honeysett, of the Constantine Police Department.

Jodi's body was sent to Grand Rapids for an autopsy. Preliminary results indicate that she was a victim of homicide. The cause of her death is still undetermined.

Preliminary autopsy results indicate homicide, undetermined cause.

The St. Joseph County Crime Task force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are assisting the Constantine Police Department in their investigation.

They are asking the public to help with any information concerning suspicious persons or vehicles Thursday afternoon or evening in Constantine, particularly a light colored older van.


I heard about it when I got into work this morning, awful news.

 

Here's what I heard:
-She was at a friend's house after school.
-She was riding her bike home, never came home.
-Found her body early this morning at a cemetery.

 

Well, the city is extremely small, trust me. Maybe about 3 total miles of city land.