Corsicana Daily Sun Newspaper - Monday, May 30, 1977
Identity of child still mystery
The badly decomposed body found Sunday on Chambers Creek by two fishermen is no longer believed to be that of a Dallas youngster missing since Valentine's Day, according to Navarro County Sheriff Jerry Shelton.
Investigators had first thought that the skeletal remains found in shallow water along the creek to be that of seven year old Ladena McCoy, who disappeared while on her way to school in Dallas Feb. 14.
But the Forensic Laboratory in Dallas reported to Shelton about 11 a.m. today that the body is not that of the missing girl. Law enforcement officers in Dallas, despite a massive effort, have been unable to locate a clue to the girl's whereabouts since her disappearance three months ago.
Navarro County deputies, after learning the news, began immediate plans for a careful search of the area where the body was found yesterday in an attempt to discover a clue to the identity of the body.
The basic assumption that the body was that of the Dallas girl rested on clothing found on the body and on the approximate age of the body, four to seven years of age. Dallas investigators had only those clothing samples on which to base an identification.
According to Deputy Sheriff Grady McCall, Jessie Gomez and James Moore were fishing around noon on Chambers Creek Sunday, about a mile south of where the E. 5th slab crosses the creek, when they found the body. The two men walked out to the road and flagged down a passing deputy to report the grisly discovery.
Members of the Corsicana Emergency Corps were employed to remove the body, which was done about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, McCall said.
Investigators say the body is missing one foot, and had apparently been in the water about two months before being discovered. Deputies speculated this morning that the body had not drifted "too far" from where it was placed in the water to where it was discovered Sunday.
Deputies now theorize that the child was a victim of abuse, and radio and teletype bulletins have been dispatched to all state law enforcement agencies seeking information about any missing four year old child.
Investigators were preparing to search using deputies on foot and in boats along the creek where the body was discovered.
(Judygirl Note: Body of Ladena McCoy was found eventually, murdered.)