Colombian authorities have confirmed the death of Michelle Dayana Henao, a six-year-old girl who went missing in the rural town of Buriticá, in Colombia’s western Antioquia department. The governor of Antioquia, Andrés Julián Rendón, announced on Monday, August 31, that the girl’s body had been found in the area after a week of intense search efforts involving ground search teams.
Michelle, who her family says had autism, was last seen leaving her home in the Cristo Rey neighborhood shortly after 10 a.m. on August 24. A security camera captured what may be the last footage of her alive, showing her walking through a family-run plant nursery around that same time. According to her mother, the girl often took walks through the area to visit neighbors before returning home on her own—but this time she never came back.
As the search intensified, local authorities had offered a reward of up to 50 million Colombian pesos (roughly $12,500) for information leading to her whereabouts. Investigators are now examining the surveillance footage as a key piece of evidence in determining what happened to her in the hours after she disappeared.
The case has drawn widespread attention across Colombia, where authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the child’s death. To read the full story and see the surveillance footage, visit the original report at El Tiempo.
Image: Bill Kasman, BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse).