Crime & Safety

Body of Missing 16-Year Old Girl Found

Boyfriend who was a person of interest in the shooting deaths of missing girls mother, sister is expected to be charged with her murder.

TEXAS CITY, TX -- Investigators and search teams from Texas Equusearch confirmed that a body found Thursday afternoon in a wooded area in Texas City is that of 16-year old Kirsten Fritch, who was the subject of a statewide Amber Alert.

Tim Miller with Texas Equusearch said Fritch's body was discovered by a volunteer searching the area on an ATV.

"One of the ATVs located her body and they stopped immediately...and we secured the area until detectives got there," Miller said at a press conference Thursday. "I don't even have words for what they (the family) must be going through right now."

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On Tuesday, Texas City Police arrested Fritch's boyfriend, Jesse Dobbs, 21, in a Texas City bar, and charged him with resisting arrest.

Surveillance from the bar where Dobbs was arrested reportedly shows Dobbs was either wet or cover with sweat and in bare feet.

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Dobbs who was also considered a person of interest in the murder of Fritch's mother Cynthia Morris, 37, and her daughter Breanna Pavilicek, 13, will be charged with Fritch's murder, investigators said.

The bodies of Morris and her daughter were discovered in their home in the 5400 block of Louise Street at about 11 a.m. Tuesday, after family members who were unable to reach Morris, went to the home

and found the front door ajar, and called police.

Morris and Pavilicek had both been shot multiple times.

Investigators determined that Fritch and Morris' 2008 PT Cruiser were missing, which prompted authorities to issue the Amber Alert.

Investigators, who later recovered Morris' missing car, believe that Dobbs abducted Fritch, killed her and left her body in the woods.

Texas EquuSearch teams searched areas along Texas 146 between Texas City and Bacliff, as well as the 80o block of North 34th in Texas City not far from where police arrested Dobbs.

On Wednesday, police searched the area with helicopters in the air, and with dogs until they all ran out of daylight.

At about 1:30 p.m., search teams recovered the body of the missing girl in Texas City.

"I want closure for the family," one investigator said. "That is our main focus."

Image via Shutterstock

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