SoCal authorities say they may have found body of missing 4-year-old

SoCal authorities say they may have found body of missing 4-year-old

November 30, 2006

The Associated Press

Big Bear City, Calif. (AP) -- A woman charged with murdering her 4-year-old adopted daughter in 2002 led investigators to a body buried in her former backyard, authorities said.

Remains believed to be that of Lillian Leilani Gill were found Wednesday morning after 50-year-old Sharon Michelle Gill told investigators where to find her body, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

The badly decomposed remains were found in a plastic bag.

"For now, it appears that the remains do fit the description of what would be a small child," sheriff's spokeswoman Tiffany Swantek said.

The county coroner's office will perform an autopsy and formally identify them.

Relatives reported that the girl disappeared in March 2002. Gill originally told authorities that the girl, who was autistic, had been sent to Italy to receive treatment, Swantek said.

There were no records that the girl had left the country, however.

Gill was charged with her murder in 2004 and pleaded not guilty. She has been held at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga for several years.

The Sheriff's Department said a search warrant was issued after she disclosed where the girl's body was buried during a recent interview at the facility.