Family Photo via KTVT-TV
Shown in this undated family photo is 6-year-old Hannah Mack of Corsicana, Texas. Her body was discovered Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, hanging inside her family's garage. Police said Wednesday the child was sexually assaulted.
Posted on 09/12/2007 6:59:47 PM PDT by Libloather
6-year-old girl found hanged in Texas
By PAUL J. WEBER - The Associated Press
Posted on Wed, Sep. 12, 2007
Family Photo via KTVT-TV
Shown in this undated family photo is 6-year-old Hannah Mack of Corsicana, Texas. Her body was discovered Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, hanging inside her family's garage. Police said Wednesday the child was sexually assaulted.
CORSICANA, Texas --A 6-year-old girl was found hanged inside her family's garage and had been sexually assaulted before she died, police said Wednesday.
Authorities have made no arrests or named any suspects since Hannah Mack's body was discovered by her mother on Monday. They are saying little about their investigation.
"I will confirm that the hanging and sexual assault were part of this scenario," Navarro County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Mike Cox said.
Cox said several people have been interviewed and no one has been ruled out as a suspect.
"We don't want to do anything that would compromise a successful prosecution of this case," Cox said Wednesday before abruptly ending a brief news conference.
Neighbors in the rural lakeside community in east Texas are frustrated by the silence so far and worry that a predator remains on the loose.
In a letter to the sheriff's department, Navarro County Judge Vicki Gray said an autopsy of the body showed "a multitude of events that together caused the death of this child." No other details were released.
Dana Mack found her youngest daughter's body in a garage behind the family's secluded home in Navarro Mills Lake, about 65 miles south of Dallas.
Police said Dana Mack began searching after she realized Hannah was missing at a time she would have been getting ready for school.
The mother last saw Hannah sleeping on the couch around 1 a.m., according to Jean Langford, the girl's great-grandmother.
"(Dana) is just devastated. We all are," Langford said. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to this family. Hannah was our pride and joy. She was our little sweetheart."
Langford said the family had hoped police would be further along in their investigation.
"What makes this so bad is that we still don't know who did this awful thing."
Those concerns are shared by neighbors. They say imaginations in town are starting to run wild.
"My kids sleep in the bed with me," said Pam Gray, who lives next door and whose children rode the school bus with Hannah. "They get off of school and they've heard all the rumors and wild things, and they're terrified."
"I'm just concerned about the kids out there," said Harold Hocutt, 75, a neighbor who knows the girl's family. "Little girls. Little boys. It's just something you don't forget. Every time I drive by (Hannah's house), I cry."
Police asked state caseworkers to not say whether Hannah's family had been investigated by child welfare officers, said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. She characterized the request as uncommon.
I’m glad you’re calm.
Also glad that the boyfriend is now in custody, especially since another article I just read about this says the woman has two older daughters. They were not safe with this scum running around loose, because they almost certainly have incriminating stories to tell.
My younger twins brothers use to take turns sleeping under each others bed. I can guarantee that they were put to bed properly every night. BTW...they celebrated their 12th birthday today.
Indeed. The judicial process needs to be limited to determining with certainty that they actually did it. After that, they should be off to the chair or the needle without delay. No years of proceedings about whether they had mental illness that made them unable to understand that this was wrong, or about how somebody didn’t read them their Miranda rights so they need a whole new trial. We need to get rid of these monsters very quickly and very cheaply. The taxpayers’ money needs to be spent helping the victims and preventing more such crimes, not on legal bureaucracies and long-term incarceration expenses.
No mention of a dog in the house.
Or maybe the poor little girl had already been sexually assaulted by mom’s boyfriend before in her bedroom, and wanted to sleep on the couch because she thought she might be safe from him out there.
My dad's a retired policeman, and one of the first things I ever became aware of as a child was his seemingly inexhaustible kindness towards animals.
Only years later did it dawn on me that this was probably a reaction to his seeing first-hand the truly horrific evil that some people are capable of.
This little girl's murder is far beyond reprehensible. Justice MUST be served; there's no doubt about that. An execution is most definitely called for.
But in the end, this beautiful little child is still gone, and gone forever.
There's absolutely nothing on God's green earth that can ever make this "right."
Prayers up for this girl, her family, those who knew her and all those effected.
I will never understand how anyone could kill an innocent child like this. I absolutely understand why it’s justified to kill the “person” that did this.
Is there anything to suggest the size of this house (which apparently had a garage that was not attached)?
Is it possible that she slept on the couch because in that “small” house, that was her bed?
*Hi Hannah, I’m Jesse - and this is Samantha; that’s Danielle, there’s Carlie, Maddie will be along shortly. The big lady is our teacher, Laci. Wanna play jump rope with us?*
WITT: No honey, that’s where I found them in the morning. Because children do wander around sometimes doesn’t make me ... irresponsible.
TaMoDee: Right On!! My daughter is an ER Nurse. The worst words a child can hear from her mother: “Dear, This is my new boyfriend!”
Samwise: Mark 10:14 Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God...
Here's the deal. A child in a home whose parent or parents hold to the simplest Christian ethic can wander and sleep anywhere in the house and be safe. You don't even have to be a churchgoer, for Pete's sake, to raise a child in Christian decency and safety, let alone a perfect mom. This little girl was killed in a worldly way by the beast who should die for it and quite possibly by the mother for her choice of boyfriend. Animal instinct is for the male to kill the child progeny of other males; Christianity is what saves men from reverting to animals. Christianity is what saves women from the results.
In a worldy way, the perp and possibly the mom did it. But beyond that, a lack of Christian ethics is what killed this kid. But there's nothing new under the sun; things like this have always happened and will always happen as long as man draws breath. It just happens a LOT MORE when Christian principles are abandoned.
I cannot believe what i’m reading...
Dear Lord help us all.
Likewise, I will never understand why women choose scum like this for boyfriends. It reminds me of the pregnant women who was killed a few months ago by the cop lover and one of his old girl friends. Is the sexual attracion to these macho freaks so strong that women stop thinking with their brains and put themselves and their children in danger?
That’s the feeling.
I was so upset when I read this story I couldn’t speak. I grabbed a piece of paper and did the sketch. If you need a title, try “God Help Us”.
I’m not one to cry easily, but this story made me weep in anger and pity. Mrs. Chan and I have a little boy and stories like this are like a knife in the guts to me. How could any human being do something so evil?
Could very well be she was targeted because she was out there....
On a court tv thread someone posted there’s a male with a different last name who has that address as his with a lengthy criminal record.
Your artwork is amazing! That one I’m saving.
God Bless that precious child, and may justice be done to her killer.
This seems like it was more than just a sexual assault, that could’ve been done anywhere with an attempt to hide the deed later, but this hanging seems more like a brazen act meant to issue a ‘statement’ of sorts to someone.
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