Missing Vermont Girl Found Dead

12-year-old's uncle accused of forcing her, and another girl, into sex ring

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 3, 2008 7:21 AM CDT

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Missing Vermont Girl Found Dead — Brooke Bennett's uncle, Michael Jacques, was arrested Sunday on a charge of sexually assaulting another child. Information gathered in a search of his home led police to the gravesite. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Vermont authorities found the body of a missing 12-year-old girl in a fresh grave yesterday, CNN reports. Brooke Bennett’s death “appears to be foul play,” said police, who arrested her uncle and stepfather on separate sexual assault charges. Bennett’s uncle, Michael Jacques, initiated her into a sex ring the day she disappeared, another girl told police. The other girl, now 14, said in an affidavit that she had been having sex with Jacques since she was 9.

Police said Jacques, a convicted sex offender, will face federal kidnapping charges.
The dead girl's former stepfather, who also admitted to having sex with the 14-year-old, was charged yesterday with obstructing justice after he altered Bennett's MySpace page to make it appear that she had discussed a secret rendezvous with someone she met online. The posting was written to suggest that Bennett "was abducted by someone she met on the Internet," the affidavit states. (More missing child stories.)

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