Remains belong to missing girl

LAKEWOOD, Wash. – Police confirmed Wednesday that human remains found near a school are those of a 10-year-old girl who vanished in December.

Adre’anna Jackson, 10, disappeared Dec. 2 while walking to Tillicum Elementary School.

Her father told police he last saw her as she left the family’s apartment and headed toward school. There had been heavy overnight snow, and her parents did not know that school had been canceled.

Two children found a skull and a portion of a spinal column Tuesday while searching for snakes in a blackberry bush in a vacant lot where transients camp, police said.

The site is near Woodbrook Middle School, about two miles from her family’s home in this Tacoma suburb.

Lakewood Police Chief Larry Saunders announced the identification Wednesday.

“The death of a child is a tragedy for the entire community,” Saunders said. “We are deeply committed to turning over every stone, initiating every effort to restore justice in this situation and bring closure to the family and community.”

Lakewood police and investigators from the FBI, Washington State Patrol and the King County sheriff’s Green River Task Force – which helped solve a string serial killings – continued to search for additional bones or evidence.