BREAKING: Construction Workers Find Body of Missing 1-Year-Old Girl Days After Her Mother’s Murder

Police in Illinois have found the body of a 1-year-old girl who had been missing since her mother was discovered murdered in their Wheeling apartment.

Ja’nya Murphy, 21, was reported missing on Tuesday and found dead later that night after responding officers entered her apartment. Police initially said she died of an obvious homicide, and ABC 7 news now reports that that Cook County Medical Examiner’s office determined the cause of death as strangulation.

According to that report, Murphy’s daughter Jaclyn “Angel” Dobbs, who had been missing since her mother’s murder, was found dead in a retention pond in Hammond.

Construction workers first saw a body floating in the retention pond near I-80 and alerted police, who quickly located the toddler’s body. An autopsy will determine Angel’s cause of death.

As previously reported, police located a person of interest in Missouri on Wednesday. That person of interest has not been identified, but was reportedly in a previous relationship with Murphy, and is now being questioned by police.

“We know for a fact he was in the far northern suburbs yesterday morning and then by yesterday evening, he was in western Missouri,” Steffen said. “We are looking to recreate the track from where he was in the northwest suburbs to Missouri.”

A motive for the crimes is not yet known. CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.

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