A Mississippi mother and her 3-year-old daughter have tragically been found dead in Alabama.
Shardee McGill, 32, and her daughter Janae were discovered separately on Thursday, Sept. 25, and Friday, Sept. 26, according to WLBT, WAPT and AL.com. Their husband and father, Johnathan McGill, had reported them missing on Monday, Sept. 22.
Jackson, Mississippi, police reported that Shardee and Janae left their northeast Jackson home on Sunday night in Shardee’s Chevrolet Equinox and did not return. They were later entered into the National Crime Information Center database as missing persons.
Authorities in Epes, Alabama — about 130 miles from Jackson — recovered the vehicle on Tuesday, Hinds County Sheriff and Interim Jackson Police Chief Tyree Jones said during a Friday press conference.
“This young lady left the residence with her mother,” Jones explained. “It wasn’t a situation where there was a kidnapping or a custodial kidnapping.”
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He added, “Based on that information, I’m not sure that it actually qualified for an Amber Alert. However, we did send out several alerts to the media through our various social media pages and in press releases.”
On Thursday, multiple agencies, including the FBI, were searching for Shardee and Janae in Epes when Shardee’s body was discovered in a shallow area of the Tombigbee River, Sumter County Coroner Sonya Jemison confirmed to AL.com.
The search continued into Friday for Janae, whose body was later found nearby.
“The missing person alert in the case of Janae McGill-3 has been cancelled,” the sheriff wrote on Facebook. “Search team authorities in Alabama located a body earlier today in an area in close proximity to where Shardee McGill was discovered. The body was later identified as Janae.”
Jones said Johnathan McGill was briefly detained for questioning after traveling to Alabama, but was later released.
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Authorities are treating both deaths as suspicious, and the causes of death have not yet been released.
“At this particular time, it’s too early to say who’s involved, nor do we have any type of suspect information regarding the investigation,” Jones said.
The Jackson Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for further information on Sunday, Sept. 28.
Anyone with information related to this case is urged to contact the Jackson Police Department at (601) 960-1234 or Crime Stoppers at (601) 355-TIPS (8477).
