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New information released about girl who was found dead in suitcase in Texas in 2016

Posted at 4:40 PM, Sep 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-18 18:40:48-04

A little girl who was found dead in a suitcase in 2016 may be from southeast Arizona, according to The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Officials say Tuesday marks three years since the girl's remains were found in a black suitcase in Madisonville, Texas. Authorities say she was between 2-6 years old and was found wearing a pink dress and a diaper.

"It's been three years since the grim discovery in Madison County, Texas on Sept. 17, 2016, and still, no one has stepped forward to identify the little girl now known only as 'Madisonville Jane Doe,'" said Madison County Sheriff Travis Neeley in a blog posted on NCMEC's website.

The girl was also found with a feeding tube, officials say. Medical experts believe she likely had a condition called micrognathia, which would have affected her ability to eat on her own.

Authorities say the girl was probably dead three to five months before she was found. Forensic experts believe she was Caucasian or Hispanic and had thick, dark hair. New genealogy research reveals she also had Native American lineage.

While she was found in Texas, a pollen analysis completed on her remains suggests she was from the southwest U.S. or the adjacent region in Mexico. It's even more likely she was from southeast Arizona, officials say.

To help identify the girl, The Madison County Sheriff's Office and NCMEC created a facial reconstruction to show what the girl may have looked like in life using a CT scan of her skull.

Girl found in suitcase

If you have any information, please call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

This story was originally published by KNXV in Phoenix.