New details released on child's body found in Madison County

Preliminary results from tests on a body found in Madison County show the person was a girl between two-and-five years old. The girl's remains were found on a I-45 feeder road in Madison County.

According to the Madison County Sheriff's Office, the child's race has not been determined in the initial testing by the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas. A medical device used with feeding tubes was found inside the girl, and the skeletal frame was underdeveloped. Manufacturing information on that medical equipment will be used as part of the investigation.

The only other identifying details released were that the girl had black hair approximately 16 inches long.

According to authorities, no signs of trauma -- including tool marks -- were found on the decomposed body, which was found in a container behind a bush along the side of I-45 Saturday by a rancher who was mowing. Madison County Sheriff Travis Neeley estimates the remains had been out there for "possibly several months."

Neeley also says there are some aspects of the crime, like the fact that it was right off the interstate, that lead him to think this wasn't a killing in his county. There are no persons of interest at this point. He said this case would be difficult to solve, partly because of how badly the girl's body was decomposed.

While ruled as a homicide by the sheriff's office, a cause of death has not been determined.

In nearby Madisonville, residents told KBTX that this was out of the norm.

"This is a good, friendly place. We all help our neighbors and do nice things for each other. It doesn't seem like a violent place," said Jill Yeager.

Renee Bosley agreed.

"For the most part, we are a good, down to earth, little town that everybody seems to get along, and it's just a really nice place to live," Bosley said.

If you have any information that could help authorities in their investigation, you're asked to contact the Madison County Sheriff's Office at (936) 348-2755.