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BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. (FOX 5 DC) - The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office says they have made an arrest in connection to the murder of a missing 15-year-old girl. On Thursday evening, Sheriff K.C. Bohrer announced in a press conference that the suspect is the boyfriend of Riley Crossman's mother, Chantel Oakley.
Bohrer says 41-year-old Andy J. McCauley Jr. was arrested Thursday in connection to Riley's murder.
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Riley was last seen at her Berkeley Springs home last Tuesday evening by her grandmother who was watching her while her mom was working, her father Lance Crossman told FOX 5’s Anjali Hemphill earlier this week.
“Her mother arrived home from work later that night and she didn’t check, but she assumed she was in her bed. She got up in the morning, Riley was not there but again, that’s not unusual, she gets up on her own and walks to school because it's across the street,” said Crossman said Tuesday. "When we did not find her at the end of that night. That's when I knew that something was really really wrong."
Morgan County Sheriff K.C. Bohrer said investigators scoured Riley's social media, interviewed her boyfriend, family members, friends and teachers, but as of Tuesday, they had no leads and no answers.
By Wednesday, a massive search effort took place in several locations across Morgan County, according to the sheriff's office. Over 50 volunteer and area law enforcement agencies participated in the search along with 300 volunteer and community members. The sheriff's office said the search concluded that afternoon.
On Thursday morning, Bohrer says officers located who they believe to be Riley when they discovered a decomposed body in the 5500 block of Tuscarora Pike in Berkeley County. He says the body was "positioned over an embankment in a rural mountain road section of Tuscarora Pike near the mountain top."
A complete identification will be determined by a pathologist, but Bohrer says investigators believe the body to be Riley's.
The body will be transported to the medical examiner's office in Charleston Friday for an autopsy.
An investigation is ongoing, the sheriff's office says.
A prayer vigil at the Berkeley Springs Park Thursday evening.
Counselors will be available for Riley's friends and classmates at Berkeley Springs High school, the sheriff's office says.