HAMMOND, Ind. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Officials have identified the body of a young child found Thursday in a Northwest Indiana retention pond as that of a girl who had been missing from Wheeling.
According to Indiana State Police, construction workers spotted what appeared to be a body floating in a retention pond near I-80/94 at Kennedy Avenue just after noon Thursday.
The workers called 911. When the Hammond Fire Department arrived on scene, they immediately entered the water, removing the body from the pond, state police said. The girl was described as Black and under the age of 5.
She was later identified by the Lake County coroner as 1-year-old Jaclyn “Angel” Dobbs, who has been missing since her mother, 21-year-old Ja’nya Murphy, was found dead in her Wheeling apartment.
An autopsy for Jaclyn was scheduled for Friday to determine the cause of death, the Indiana State Police said.
Earlier in the day, police announced they arrested a person of interest in the murder of Jaclyn’s mother, 21-year-old Ja’nya Murphy.
The person had a relationship with Murphy and was last seen with her at a mall on Monday, around the time her family last had contact with her, according to Wheeling police.
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The man was stopped by police in western Missouri while driving a maroon 2020 Dodge Grand Caravan that was also sought by police, based on video reviewed by officers, authorities said.
Police said the man is not the father of Jaclyn.
Murphy had been strangled and died of asphyxiation, according to autopsy results released Thursday by the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Her death was ruled a homicide.
She was discovered late Tuesday as police made a well-being check. Officers climbed onto a balcony and entered her apartment at 356 Inland Drive in Wheeling around 10:20 p.m., according to Deputy Police Chief Al Steffen.
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Police went to the building after Murphy had not been to work on Tuesday and had not been seen by relatives since Monday, Steffen said.
Murphy was a 2018 graduate of Stevenson High School and lived with her daughter at the apartment building, Wheeling police said.
Anyone with information can call Wheeling police at (847) 459-2632.
(WBBM Newsradio and the Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this copy.)