April Millsap May Have Been Targeted for Sexual Assault

Police are continuing their investigation into the murder of April Millsap. (Photo: Justice for April Millsap Facebook page)

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April Millsap may have been a victim of a sexual assault before she was strangled and left dead in a ditch near a Macomb County recreational trail last month.

The 14-year-old from Armada disappeared July 26 while walking her dog, Penny, who alerted a pair of joggers to her body.

WDIV, Channel 4, is reporting that the teen’s pants had been pulled down, her top had been pulled up and she had dirt under her fingernails that suggested she struggled with her attacker. She had injuries on her chest and neck, and was beaten and strangled, according to earlier reports.

The Detroit Free Press quoted a person familiar with the investigation who said Millsap had a shoe print on her chest. The newspaper said that in the days following the murder, someone at a home in Wales Township searched earlier this week asked Jeff’s Rubbish Disposal to do an extra pickup of rubbish from a basement tht had been flooded.

James Donald Vancallis, 32, who lives at the residence is a “person of interest” in the crime, authorities said this week.

He has not been charged in the murder, but is being held on drug charges after police found marijuana plants at the residence he shares with his father. Both men were charged.

Dean Ankouny, an attorney representing the Vancallises, said their home has been “ransacked” twice, even though his clients are cooperative, and they feel they are being harassed.

Police declined to comment on the conclusions of a rape kit performed, but the medical examiner confirmed to that sexual assault testing was done, the WDIV-TV said.