Death Of Girl Found In Duffel Bag In Hacienda Heights Ruled Homicide
HACIENDA HEIGHTS (CBSLA) – The death of an unidentified girl whose body was found inside a duffel bag along a hiking trail in Hacienda Heights earlier this week has been ruled a homicide, coroner's officials said Friday night.
RELATED: Child's Body Found Near Hiking Trail In Hacienda Heights Area
The girl, who was believed to be between 8 to 13 years old and weighed only 55 pounds, was found partially inside of the bag around 10:35 a.m. Tuesday near Hacienda Boulevard and Glenmark Drive, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
A sketch released by sheriff's investigators Wednesday shows a young, skinny girl without shoes, a pink shirt with "future princess hero" written on it and panda pants.
"Sad moment for the department. For the community. And we're going to do our best to figure out what led to the suspicious death," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
Workers found her body in some bushes on the popular trail. Investigators believe she was dumped there on the skyline trail sometime Sunday evening. But they are not sure how long she had been dead or how she was killed.
On Thursday night, the grieving Hacienda Heights community called the little girl family.
RELATED: Hacienda Heights Mourns Unidentified Young Girl Found Dead In Duffel Bag
"It breaks my heart, it just breaks my heart," says Marlene Contreras, one of the vigil's organizers.
People from near and far gathered to say every life matters, even the lives we don't know. They wanted to remember this little girl, who was found partially inside a duffel bag, dumped near the Skyline Trail at Colima Road and Hacienda Boulevard Tuesday morning.
"When things like this happen, we need to come together and be a voice for this little girl, especially since she doesn't have a family, I think it's important that she's everybody's child," says Contreras.
"This one feels like it's one of the worst ones I've ever heard about. That this little girl stuffed in a suitcase-like bag, was just devastating to me," says L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
