(Lumberton, N.C.) (AP) — The FBI says the body found in an area of North Carolina where searchers had been looking for a missing teenager has been positively identified as Hania Aguilar.
Lumberton Police Chief Michael McNeill told reporters at a news conference that state crime lab tests indicate the body found late Tuesday is Hania Aguilar. While a final determination will be made with dental records, investigators believe the body is hers.
“This is the outcome that we all feared,” he said. “We did not want to hear this. We wanted to bring Hania back home and bring her back home alive to our community. It hurts.”
He pledged to bring whoever is responsible to justice.FBI agents and detectives of the Lumberton Police Department found the body around 4:45 Tuesday afternoon in a body of water near a road east of Interstate 95 and south of Lumberton.
The 13-year-old was kidnapped Nov. 5 from a mobile home park after going outside to start a relative’s SUV to prepare to leave for the school bus stop. Police say a man then forced the teenager into an SUV and drove off.
The SUV was later found in Lumberton, several miles from the mobile home park.
There are no suspects in the homicide.