Parents Keeping Children Closer After Girl Is Found Dead

by Nora Gathings (hsgathings@wsbt.com)

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Jodi Parrack Constantine cemetery

The body of 11-year-old Jodi Parrack was found in a Constantine cemetery Thursday night, Nov. 8, 2007. Police believe someone abducted the girl as she rode her bike home from a friend's house, then killed her. (Photo provided)

By Jim Pinkerton

(WSBT) Parents weren't letting their kids out of their sight Friday night after a girl was found dead.

Police believe Jodi Parrack, 11, was kidnapped on her way home from a friend's house Thursday night. Her mother found the body in a cemetery near their home.

There was no outward sign of what may have happened.

The cemetery is just down the street from her home, but on the opposite side of where she would have been coming from. Police say she should have never been there. Friends say she would never go there on her own.

"There are people in the world and this state who prey upon children. We're in the opinion that's what happened here last night," said St. Joseph County, Michigan Prosecutor Doug Fisher at a news conference Friday.

Police do not know who killed Jodi, and because of that, parents say they're terrified.

In the middle of the cemetery, candles light the place Parrack's mother found her daughter dead.

"I have a 12-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter, and it could have been one of them," said Steve Sequin.

"The only thing I could think of is I wanted my kids. I wanted my kids at home," said Jerri Worthington who heard the news on the way to work.

It's a village of 2,000 people, and parents worry the killer is among them.

"We can leave the door unlocked and not worry about it. But all of a sudden, we have to lock the doors and make sure the kids are right beside us, especially when we go outside. It's scary," said Worthington.

Parents say what scares them even more is knowing Jodi was just riding her bike home from a friend's house when she disappeared.

"We used to let them walk home from school. We now go down here and pick them up," said Sequin.

Police say kids have recently been stalked near schools, so parents say they aren't taking any chances.

"We are going to be going around to the different parents in the neighborhood seeing if we can get all of the kids to walk together at this point," said Worthington.

Police are looking for a light colored van. They say there have been reports of kids been followed, but police are not sure whether those reports are connected with Jodi's disappearance and death.

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