Minn. divers find body, call off search for 2-year-old girl

Published 9:37 am Monday, May 27, 2013

ELK RIVER — Divers found a body matching the description of a 2-year-old girl who disappeared from a nearby campground two days earlier, Elk River police said Sunday.

The body, which has been taken to the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office for official identification, matches the description of Daisy Jo Holland, police Chief Bradley Rolfe said at a news conference. He added that the active search for Daisy is now over.

The body was found in a river, several hundred yards downstream from where Daisy vanished, Rolfe said.

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“At this time, there is no evidence of foul play,” Rolfe said.

Daisy, who would have turned 3 today, was last seen Friday evening near a campsite at Wapiti Park Campground. She was playing with other children while her mother and two other adults set up camp. Suddenly she was gone.

Search dogs on Saturday tracked her scent to the edge of the river. But they lost it at an area where the swift water gets deep fast and visibility only extends about a foot below the surface.

Authorities organized search parties Saturday to scour fields and forests nearby.