Alanna Gallagher’s body was discovered in Sagninaw, Texas, with authorities saying the 6-year-old girl was murdered.
Gallagher, who celebrated her sixth birthday in mid-June, was found dead under a tarp, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner told CBS DFW. Her body was found bound with red tape more than a mile from her home.
Karl Gallagher, her father, told the station to ask the media to respect his family’s privacy.
The kindergarten student was last seen playing without adult supervision outside, neighbors told the station.
The FBI offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspect, CBS reported.
“We urge anyone with information about her to contact the police,” Gallagher told the station in an interview.
Damon Ing, a police spokesman, said that her parents have been ruled out as suspects in the case, the Dallas Morning News reported. Ing told the paper that a 14-year-old boy discovered the girl’s body.
The boy, Owen Whiddon, told the paper that he was riding a scooter when he saw a gray tarp wrapped around what he thought was trash.
“I said, ‘Well, let’s pick it up, let’s put it in the trash can,’ you know, because we’re a clean community,” Whiddon said.
But when he looked under the tarp, he saw a girl’s body with her head covered with a bag.
“He was just, ‘Mom, it’s a baby girl. It’s a girl.’ And I’m like, it’s no laughing joke. And he said, ‘Mom it’s really a girl. I wouldn’t joke about that,’” his mother, Katie Whiddon told Fox News.
“I started gasping for air, I couldn’t breathe,” Owen’s mother said when he told her. “My husband took the phone. I was freaking out.”
According to Fox, her parents reported the girl missing on Monday night. Police executed a search warrant for their house, and they also looked into several cars.
Police said that people with any information about the case should call 682-888-3682.
