THE US REPORT

Breaking news, Oct. 21, 2009

The body of a small child has been found in a landfill in South Georgia. At a press conference today Clay County sheriff Rick Beseler said the child has not been identified and authorities cannot say whether the body is that of 7 year old Somer Thompson missing since Monday. The sheriff said the landfill receives trash from Orange Park, Fla. Beseler also said the body is that of a white child. Authorities had targeted landfills in North Florida and South Georgia for "precautionary searches." The original story including the Amber Alert posted Tuesday is below.

A Florida AMBER Alert [endangered] has been issued for Somer Thompson [Photo at left]. She was last seen in the area of West Gano Avenue and Debarry Avenue in Orange Park, Florida, a community near Jacksonville. She was last seen wearing a black shirt under a cranberry colored sweat suit with pink stripes running down the arms and legs. She possibly has a red bow in her hair and may have been wearing a white hat and a white scarf.

Somer is 7 years, 6 months old. She is 3 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs about 65 pounds. She is white with brown eyes and brown hair.

Somer disappeared while walking home from Grove Park Elementary with her sister and friends on Monday, but she separated from them about 2:45 p.m. Somer lives about a mile from the school. Her mother reported her missing to deputies a few hours later. 

The Florida Times-Union said, “One lead involves the Oct. 10 attempted abduction of a 5-year-old girl about a block from where Somer disappeared. The mother of that girl, Kaylee, said she is frightened for Somer.”

A news conference to update the public is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday.

If you have any information concerning the whereabouts of Somer Thompson, please contact the Clay County Sheriff's Office at 1-877-277-6911 or 911. --TUSR Staff