Body Of Missing North Carolina Teen Found In Pond

December 13, 2012 at 9:37 am by Morbid  

Mint Hill, NC – The body of a missing North Carolina girl was found this morning after authorities drained a pond near her home.

I have been following this story since it first hit the news, but was waiting a bit because I really thought the girl was alive and had ran away from home. Turns out that may not have been the case.

On Sunday, 16-year-old Kayla Campbell left her home to go ride her bike and was supposed to be back home at 5:15 pm. Her father called Kayla on her cell phone when she did not arrive home on time and she told him she was on her way.

“We called her at 5:20 p.m., and she said she was close-by,” said the girl’s father, Robert Campbell. “But we didn’t feel like she was telling the truth.”

Campbell became more concerned after using location software he had installed on Kayla’s phone to find she was not in the location she said she was. They called police at around 6 pm after trying to call Kayla again and finding the phone had been turned off.

Police have been looking for her ever since, focusing their efforts in and around a pond a quarter mile from her home. On Monday, searchers found Kayla’s bike, bike helmet, shoes and cell phone near the pond. Further searches around the area, including the pond itself, yielded no other traces of Kayla.

A local contractor stepped forward yesterday offering four pumps to drain the pond, and police took him up on his offer. They started draining the pond yesterday afternoon and found Kayla’s body at around 12:15 a.m. this morning.

There has been no official word on cause of death or if foul play was involved. Early reports talked of Kayla battling depression, but that lately she had been in good spirits. Her father also made mention of being unhappy with some of the people his daughter had been associating with online.

“Kayla was getting better,” her brother said. ”She was working with professionals who were getting her the help she needs and she was getting better.”

Police are continuing their investigation and say the FBI’s’ cyber forensic team is going over Kayla’s cell phone as well as a computer investigators removed from inside her family’s home. They are also turning to the public for any information regarding Kayla.

“We need anyone to come forward who may have seen Kayla on Sunday between 3:00 pm-5:00 pm, specifically in the areas of Highway 51, Fairview Road, Lawyers Road and Bartlett Road where Kayla often rides her bike,” investigators told reporters.

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