Body pulled from river believed to be 12- to 17-year-old girl

NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — Police believe a body pulled out of the Yellow River over the weekend belongs to a girl between the ages of 12 and 17.

A fisherman found the body in the river Saturday just south of Rocky Plains Road in Newton County.

"I come across things on the river time to time, but this is one of the strangest things I've come across,” Pat Campbell Jr. said.

He told Channel 2’s Tom Regan he was out fishing for white bass when he spotted something that made him turn his boat around.

“I motored over it, and I saw the heel of a person, and initially thought it was a mannequin. I got downwind of it and could tell it wasn't a mannequin and that's when I said it's time to call 911,” he said.

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Campbell said the body was hung up on some tree branches and it appeared that it had been in the river for some time.

“I could not tell if it was a man or a woman. The officer on the other side of the river, couldn't tell if it was a person there,” he said.

Police say the body is possibly African-American or biracial and has no identifying scars, marks or tattoos.

The coroner’s office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Medical Examiner’s Office are still working to determine the cause and manner of death as deputies try to learn her identity.

“Currently we are looking into any missing persons, not only with our agency, but with any local agencies in the area, to find out if in fact we have any missing person reports,” Newton County Sheriff’s Deputy Latavia Washington said.

Cox Media Group