Child's body found in forest may be that of kidnapped girl

A CHILD'S body that resembles an abducted five-year-old American girl was found in a rugged, heavily forested area of a neighbouring county, but officials couldn't immediately say if it was that of missing Samantha Runnion.

The body is of a girl aged four to six and has similarities to Samantha, who was kidnapped kicking and screaming outside her apartment on Monday by a man who drove up and asked for help finding his dog. “There are enough similarities in the individual who is out there to lead us to believe that it could be Samantha,” Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona said on Tuesday night.

Authorities scheduled a news conference yesterday to offer more details on the disappearance, which follows the high-profile kidnap cases of Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City and Danielle van Dam in San Diego.