Body Of Missing Texas Teen Found In Landfill

A 16-year-old boy has been detained as a suspect in the death of Kaytlynn Cargill on Sept. 1, 2017. The missing Texas teen's body was found in a landfill in Arlington, Texas, on June 21, 2017.

Police identified a body found in a Texas landfill as that of 14-year-old Kaytlynn Cargill Thursday. Cargill had been missing since Monday when she left her family's home to walk her dog and never returned.

Cargill’s body was found Wednesday in a landfill in Arlington about three miles away from her family’s apartment. The medical examiner’s office confirmed the body belonged to Kaytlynn Thursday, though they had not yet released the cause and manner of her death. Police had also not yet identified a suspect.

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“We are shocked and saddened with this tragic news,” Bedford Police Lt. Kirk Roberts said in a press release Thursday. “We will pursue every lead, leave no stone unturned and bring the person or persons responsible for Kaytlynn’s death to justice.”

Kaytlynn was last seen at around 6:20 p.m. Monday while walking her dog near her family’s apartment. According to flyers issued after Kaytlynn went missing, Kaytlynn tied the dog’s leash to a fence in a dog park and asked friends to watch the dog but never returned. When she didn’t come back home, her parents left to search for her and reported her as a missing person to Bedford Police, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

But police never issued an Amber Alert for Kaytlynn.

“At this time, we have no reason to believe she is in any danger and we do not have any reason to suspect foul play is involved in her disappearance,” the Bedford Police Department said in an initial Facebook post Tuesday. “Due to this, an Amber Alert is not authorized.”

Police said they made that decision based on interviews with Kaytlynn’s friends.

“The kids she was with have been giving us different stories and we’re checking every lead,” Lt. David Smith said Wednesday.

In the hours after her body was discovered, a GoFundMe page was set up by a friend of Kaytlynn’s family. Within the first 12 hours, the page had raised $9,560. During a memorial Thursday night at Central Junior High School in Euless, where Kaytlynn had attended school, about 100 teachers and friends gathered to sing “Amazing Grace” in honor of the teen.

“She was this carefree girl,” Bayleigh Wagoner, a friend of Kaytlynn’s who played in the school band with her, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “She could make you laugh whenever. If she saw that you were sad or if you didn’t have a smile on your face, she would start telling jokes just to make you smile. I just can’t believe this happened to her.”

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“I didn’t know her personally, but every time I saw her in the hallway she always had a bright smile on her face,” another student, Brooke Kirkland, told the paper. “This just breaks my heart. Nobody deserves this. She had her whole life ahead of her. She had prom. She was going to be able to drive in two years. She’ll never get to experience any of that. I just want to cry.”

Police asked anyone with information relating to Kaitlynn to contact the department at 817-952-2440 or get in touch with the Tarrant County Crime Stoppers team at 817-469-TIPS.

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