Authorities were quick to find the body of 3-year-old Olivia Jansen after her dad reported her missing at around 8:30 a.m. Friday thanks to an autistic witness.
Investigators revealed that the unidentified witness told a neighbor he recognized Howard Jansen III’s car from the news as the silver SUV that was parked by a wooded trail at 7:45 a.m. while he was doing some garden work. He told the man he saw two individuals got in ten minutes later and “peeled off down the street.”
The witness was very reluctant about reporting what he saw but his neighbor was more courageous: “I went directly to police barriers they had up and I told an officer and they took it from there.”
Olivia’s bruised body was found in a shallow grave. Jansen and his girlfriend, Jacqulyn Kirkpatrick, were charged with murder.
