HARVEY, La. (AP) — An intensive three-day search for a missing 6-year-old girl from the New Orleans suburb of Harvey ended with the discovery of her stabbed and beaten body stashed in a trash can that investigators had already searched.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said Tuesday that a suspect, 20-year-old Matthew Flugence, was being sought in the death of the girl, Ahlittia (UH-lih-tee-uh) North, and in an unrelated sexual battery case involving another child earlier this year. Normand said the suspect’s brother, 21-year-old Russell Flugence, was arrested and booked Tuesday with obstruction of justice for allegedly withholding information about the case.
Jefferson Parish Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich said the girl had two “very aggressive” stab wounds to the neck that probably were the cause of death.
Normand said dozens of FBI personnel aided in the search for the girl in a case that involved canvassing hundreds of apartments.
