Logan City Police: Missing Girl’s Uncle ‘Definitely Our Suspect’
May 28, 2019, 11:58 AM
LOGAN, Utah – Police have found “strong evidence” connecting a Utah man to the disappearance of his 5-year-old niece, Elizabeth Shelley, in Cache County.
Chief Gary Jensen of the Logan City Police Department said officers found 21-year-old Alex Whipple walking in an area about 10 miles from Elizabeth’s home. Officials said that was the last place where she was seen.
The officers found evidence that lead them to believe Whipple was “definitely our suspect.” It wasn’t clear exactly what was found, but Jensen said forensic evidence – including blood and DNA materials – has been collected.
Chief Jensen said he had no doubt Whipple was the primary suspect connected to the girl’s disappearance.
“We believe Lizzie is hurt, but we don’t know her condition,” said Chief Jensen.
The nature of any injuries was unknown, nor was it clear if Elizabeth had survived whatever happened to her, but police were hoping to find her alive.
Elizabeth disappeared from her home in Logan sometime after 2 a.m. Saturday. Officials said that was the last time her mother reported seeing her. She and Whipple were both discovered missing later that morning.
“We not 100 percent sure as to exactly what time these two went missing, but we have a time from of about eight hours that the two potentially could have been gone together,” Chief Jensen said at a media briefing Tuesday morning.
Search crews made up of law enforcement officers scoured the area around the home for hours over the Memorial Day weekend.
Crews have been made up of the Utah Attorney General’s Office, FBI, Cache County Sheriff’s Office, Cache County Attorney’s Office, North Park Police Department, Weber County Search & Rescue, ICE, Homeland Security, Davis County Search & Rescue, Smithfield Police Department, Utah State Bureau of Investigation, Utah State Crime Lab, the Child Exploitation Task Force, USU Police Department, Adult Probation & Parole, Rich County Search & Rescue, Box Elder County Search & Rescue and the Logan City Police Department.
“There have been thousands of people hours in the effort to search for Lizzie and find out where she might be,” said Jensen.
Whipple was found in a remote part of the southern end of Cache County. He was arrested on active warrants and also charged with a weapons offense, interfering with police, possession of controlled substance and probation violation.
