Child’s body found by mushroom hunters in Indiana

Estimates suggest child died ‘sometime within the last week’

A wooded area in Indiana’s Washington County (WHAS11)

A mushroom hunter in Indiana made a shock discovery at the weekend after finding a child’s body near a wooded area, according to police.

The Indiana State Police (ISP) said the individual was forging in a wooded area in eastern Washington County on Saturday when a child’s body was found at about 7.30pm.

The body, which was described as belonging to a “Black male child” who was about four feet tall with “short hair”, was found “near a roadway in a heavily wooded area”, said the ISP.

The ISP said the mushroom hunter, a nearby resident, “immediately called 911 and the Washington County Sheriff’s Department responded. Detectives with the Indiana State Police in Sellersburg were then called to investigate.”

It was also unclear how long the body had been at the location, or what the cause of the death was. An autopsy is however pending.

Estimates suggest the child was aged between five and eight, and it was unclear exactly when the death took place, although investigators believe it was “sometime within the last week”.

“If anyone has information that could help in the identification of this child, please call Detective Matt Busick with the Indiana State Police in Sellersburg at 1-812-248-4374 or 1-800-872-674,” police added in a statement on Sunday.

Speaking in an interview with WHAS-11, ISP sergeant Carey Huls said “somebody must know something” about the child.

“You dont have a child in this age [bracket] that just disappears and nobody says anything about it,” he told the local news station, while adding that “nothing’s matched up at this point” with their investigation.

The town of Sellersburg, which is located along Interstate 65, is about 15 minutes north of Louisville, Kentucky. Salem is the county seat.