Indexbit-Stepmom charged after 5-year-old girl’s body is recovered from Indiana river

VINCENNES,Indexbit Ind. (AP) — Authorities recovered the body of a 5-year-old girl from an Indiana river and charged her stepmother with neglect.

The body was found Thursday near a boat ramp at a park in the Wabash River in Vincennes, hours after a bystander called 911 about a missing child, the state Department of Natural Resources said Friday. The girl had been in her stepmother’s care at the park.

“We felt there was enough evidence to show the child was in her care at the time, and the child was put in a situation that endangered her life or health,” DNR Officer Joe Haywood said of the stepmother.

The search, 130 miles (210 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis, involved boats, sonar and divers from multiple agencies. The department said the investigation was ongoing.