Autopsy Can't Find Cause of Death in NH Case

Officials will keep investigating Celina Cass case
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 2, 2011 7:39 PM CDT
Celina Cass Autopsy: Officials Still Don't Know the Cause of Death
Investigators search near the dam where the body of Celina Cass was found.   (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

An autopsy conducted on the body of 11-year-old girl Celina Cass was unable to determine how she died, authorities said today. Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said further study is required. Celina's death has been deemed suspicious, based on what divers found when they pulled her body from a river, and investigators are treating the case as a criminal investigation.

"I don't even know what to say. I thought the community needed some answers, and I thought we were going to get them tonight," said Debbie Whelan, whose daughter, a friend of Celina's, was sobbing after watching a news report on a TV monitor. Investigators today combed the area along the river, which divides Vermont and New Hampshire, above where Celina's body was found. A crime scene technician said they were doing computer-aided diagramming to give them a precise electronic image of the area. Click for more on the tragic case. (More Celina Cass stories.)

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