On Friday, an Indiana medical examiner confirmed the body of a toddler discovered Thursday was the body of Shaylyn Ammerman, a toddler that had been missing since Tuesday.
NBC News reports that an autopsy performed by the State of Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office made a preliminary finding that the toddler had died of asphyxiation, and the death has been ruled a homicide.
The body of the one-year-old was found around 6 p.m. in a remote area northeast of Gosport.
According to FOX News , Kyle Parker, 22, has been arrested in the murder case. Parker has a criminal record for things such as possession of illegal and synthetic drugs, criminal trespassing, and a protection order was filed by his victim.
Parker had no previous violent charges on his record.
Shaylyn’s father, Justin Ammerman, stated that Parker had been at the Ammerman’s home the night of Shaylyn’s disappearance.
“He came in. He went to my brother’s room, and he brought some alcohol over there,” said Ammerman.
Shaylyn was put to bed at her father and grandmother’s house around 10:30 P.M. on Tuesday night, she was checked on around midnight and disappeared sometime before sunrise according to Indiana Public Media .
“The front door was unlocked because we don’t never lock the door,” says the girl’s grandmother Tamara Sue Morgan. “I mean we don’t have any reason to lock the door. I’ve been living in Spencer all of my life and we just don’t look doors here.”
Indiana police aren’t releasing much information about Parker.
State Police Sgt. Curt Durnil says the investigation is just beginning.
“Please don’t think that just because we found a body and that we’ve made an arrest that this case is anywhere near over. This case is just getting started. With more interviews, with more investigative tactics, with everything that we have at our disposal, we will use to bring those who are responsible for this little girl’s death to justice,” says Durnil.
There are other suspects in the case, but no other arrests have been made at the time of this writing.
[Image via Pixabay]