7-Year-Old Murder Victim Got 'Lost in a Crowd'
Gabriella Doolin’s brother Alec, father Brian and mother Amy comfort each other during a vigil for her Sunday in Scottsville, Ky. (Image via Miranda Pederson/Daily News via AP)
It took less than a half-hour for the lives of Gabriella Doolin’s parents to go from normal to nightmare. The 7-year-old girl was found dead 25 minutes after she disappeared from a youth football game in Scottsville, Ky., Saturday night, and police have confirmed that she was murdered.
Gabriella’s brother, Alec, 11, had been playing in the game, and she was there with her parents. They asked the stadium announcer to call her name as soon as they lost her in the small crowd.
“It came over the intercom the third time and they shut it down,” a family friend tells WSMV. “We quit and the entire community started looking for her. We had a complete lockdown of the school. I mean, it was super quick."
Her body was found in a creek behind the high school, and authorities have not released autopsy results or details of the investigation.
No arrests have been made, but the case "is being treated as an isolated incident and we do not feel that there is an ongoing threat,” the Allen County sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.
The Bowling Green Daily News provides a closer look at the girl known as Gabbi—"the blue-eyed blonde was an avid reader and a girlie girl who at one time said she wanted to play in the NFL.“ She opted for cheerleading, instead. The Saturday night game was actually an all-star game, and had it been a regular contest, Gabbi would have been on the sideline cheering on Alec.
She "was a child that loved,” says a former teacher, who considers herself “blessed” to have had Gabbi in the classroom. “She always had a smile on her face and the personality to make all those around her laugh.” (In Alabama, authorities are dealing with case of an 8-year-old accused of murdering an even younger victim.)
By Rob Quinn
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This article originally appeared on Newser: 7-Year-Old Murder Victim Got ‘Lost in a Crowd’
