The body of a 17-year-old girl has been found dead in a ditch by police in Texas just an hour after she was reported missing, according to local authorities.
Texas police are searching for the person who killed Kaitlin Hernandez, from San Antonio, Texas.
Police said they found the young girl’s body dumped in a ditch “like an animal.”
San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) officers located Hernandez’s body just before 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Her remains were found in a “drainage ditch” beneath a bridge on the 7600 block of Dell Oak Drive, SAPD said in a Wednesday Facebook post.
“We need to find out who did this because she didn’t deserve to be left there like an animal,” Angie Hernandez, the victim’s mother, told FOX San Antonio.
“It’s just very ugly and cruel.
“I don’t know what this person was thinking, why they targeted her. I don’t understand.”
On Thursday, SAPD announced that they had detained a person of interest, who is “cooperating and assisting in the investigation.”
“Detectives are still investigating,” SAPD said in a statement.
“This is an active and ongoing investigation.”
“The person of interest shown in our previous social media post is cooperating with the investigation.