Officials mum on autopsy of Constantine girl

By CAROL DRAEGER, Tribune Staff Writer

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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 Beth Boehne

Story Created: Jan 11, 2008 at 11:31 PM EST

Story Updated: Mar 28, 2008 at 5:22 PM EST

CONSTANTINE — The much-awaited autopsy in the mysterious death of an 11-year-old Constantine girl has become like everything else in the unsolved homicide: a secret.

On Friday the St. Joseph County (Mich.) Medical Examiner’s office said it would not comment on an autopsy report released earlier in the week about Jodi Christine Parrack’s death.

The Grand Rapids office of forensic pathologist Dr. Stephen Cohle sent the report to the county Monday.

But Cohle’s office said comments on the report should come from St. Joseph County Medical Examiner John Robertson, who declined comment.

Investigators have not released any new information in their investigation into the Nov. 8 death of Parrack, whose body and bicycle were found in Constantine Township Cemetery by her mother, Valerie Carver.

Carver called police about 7 p.m. that evening when Jodi, a fifth-grader at Riverside Elementary, failed to return home from a friend’s house about 5:30 p.m. as scheduled.

Constantine Police Chief Mark Honeysett said Jodi was last seen about 4:45 p.m. leaving the friend’s home on East Third Street.

Jodi’s friends told police conflicting statements as to where Jodi planned to go after visiting her friends.

Some said she was going for a bike ride. Another said she was going home for supper. Another said she was riding her bike to a nearby store to buy a snack.

Honeysett said none of the leads panned out. Seemingly no one saw her after she left the friend’s home.

After calling police, Carver’s mother and friends began looking for Jodi near the Parracks’ home. They found her body about 10:30 p.m. in a nearby cemetery.

It’s unclear if Jodi was killed in the cemetery. Honeysett has said there were no signs of trauma on her body, but police ruled the death a homicide.

Meanwhile, the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s office released a statement Friday seeking information from the public but disclosing little else about Jodi’s death.

Throughout their two-month investigation, Constantine police and the St. Joseph County Major Crime Task Force have received 561 tips, the prosecutor’s office said.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Holly Curtis praised detectives, but said, “In order for criminal charges to be filed, there must be probable cause that a crime was committed and probable cause that a particular person committed the crime.”

She added that there is “no doubt” that Jodi’s death was a homicide but “at this time we cannot establish that a particular individual committed this crime.”

On Friday, Honeysett said he was hopeful that Jodi’s killer will be in custody soon.

But he couldn’t say when.

“I’d love to be able to tell you an arrest is imminent. But I can’t,” he said.

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