Body found in Georgia landfill is missing Florida girl

A child's body found in a landfill is that of missing 7-year-old Somer Thompson, authorities confirmed.

The identification made Wednesday night dashed any hopes of the family and small North Florida community that Somer was still alive.

About 9 p.m. Wednesday, detectives were able to uncover enough of a body found in a Georgia landfill near the Florida state line to see a birthmark on the leg that matched photographs provided by the girl's mother, Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show.

Also, clothing matched a description of the girl, he said.

The body was taken to Savannah, Ga., where a medical examiner will perform an autopsy this morning, the sheriff said.

He also said investigators have questioned most of the registered sex offenders living in a five-mile radius of where Somer disappeared Monday in Orange Park, a suburb of Jacksonville.

Investigators followed garbage trucks leaving from the neighborhood where Somer disappeared.

Beseler said investigators searched through 100 tons of garbage before finding the body.

Somer vanished on her mile-long walk home from school. She was squabbling with another child, and her sister told her to stop. The girl got upset, walked ahead of the group and wasn't seen again.

The girl's aunt, Laura Holt, said family members were going through an agonizing wait to find out whose body was found and held out hope the girl would be found alive.

"I'm still holding out hope this is not Somer," Holt said Wednesday night, her voice cracking.

Earlier, the girl's father, Sam Thompson, who lives in Graham, N.C., pleaded for her safe return. Holt is his sister.

"Somer, your daddy Sam loves you unconditionally. Stay strong and don't give up the fight or the hope that we're going to be a family again. I love you," he said before authorities revealed they had found the body.

That news was an awful blow to her brother, Holt said. He nearly had a breakdown not long after, when someone claiming to be part of the search team in Florida told him they had positively identified the child as his daughter because of a birthmark. The claim was quickly found to be false after a call to the sheriff, she said.

"My brother just fell apart. He thought he was having a heart attack," she said.

Thompson was staying at an undisclosed family member's home to get away from the "circus" in front of his house.

Orange Park is just south of Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The area where the girl disappeared is a heavily populated residential area with homes, apartment complexes and condominiums.

A crowd of about 150 people, some crying, gathered across the street from Somer's home, many clutching their children tightly. Others placed flowers under a tree.

"We are all devastated," said Tonya Jennings, a grandmother who lived three doors away and often saw the girl and her siblings come home from school. "I knew her."

Jennings, 61, was with her two granddaughters, Nina Guitierez, 9, and Aria Michaels, 8, who attend Grove Park Elementary School with Somer.

"We will need to be more vigilant. There are pedophiles everywhere in the area," she said.

John Latavia, 43, said his children attended school with Somer.

"All we can do is pray and come together," he said.