Father Arrested After Body Believed to Be of Missing 3-Year-Old Olivia Jansen Found

Olivia Jansen (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

The father of 3-year-old Olivia Jansen was arrested late Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder and child abuse, after the girl’s body was believed to have been found following a missing report and an AMBER Alert early on Friday.

Online records from the Wyandotte County Jail show that 29-year-old Howard Jansen was arrested and is being held for a minimum of 48 hours at the jail. There are no formal charges as of late Friday.

Earlier in the evening, the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department said that at around 6 p.m., a body believed to be that of Olivia Jansen was discovered in a Kansas City neighborhood trail, according to WIBW.

The AMBER Alert that was sent out earlier in the day is now canceled for the child.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that in the last 30 minutes our officers have discovered a body in the 3400 block of Steele that we believe to be that of missing 3-year-old Olivia Jansen,” police said shortly after the discovery of the body, reported KWCH. “We thank everyone who shared our posts and reached out with tips and offers of assistance throughout the day. For that reason we wanted to share this information as swiftly as possible. This is not the outcome we wanted, in fact it is the worst outcome.”

Olivia was reported missing in the morning when her father awoke to her empty bed. The back door to the residence was left open.

“Due to her age and a search of the area, investigators believe that she was taken from the location. There is no known suspect at this time and no known suspect vehicle,” said Missingkids.org.

Authorities told FOX4 in Kansas City that they received a tip that a body was located off a trail near Interstate 635.

An autopsy has not been carried out to confirm the girl’s identity.

In the incident, the girl’s father, who was not named, told officials that he last saw the child at 11 p.m. on Thursday night. When he woke up at 5:30 a.m., she was gone, he said. She was reported missing about three hours later, officials said.

Kansas City, Kansas, police spokesman Tom Tomasic told the Fox affiliate that they’ve heard “several stories throughout the day” and “none of them made sense.”

The police department says it has called in the FBI to assist in the investigation and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation was called in.

Kansas City, Kansas, is located next to Kansas City, Missouri.