Bodies Of Woman, Child Recovered From Tombigbee River In Sumter County

SUMTER COUNTY, AL — Local, state and federal authorities have launched an investigation after the bodies of a woman and child were recovered this week from the Tombigbee River in Sumter County.

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The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) said Friday that state investigators began a missing persons case Wednesday after being alerted by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) about Shardee McGill, 32, and her child.

ALEA said the pair were last believed to be in Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday.

ALEA then said McGill’s 2017 Chevrolet Equinox was found Tuesday in the Epes community of Sumter County, which prompted a multi-agency search involving ALEA’s Aviation Unit and Marine Patrol Division, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, the Jackson Police Department, the FBI and other agencies.

Search teams then found the body of an adult woman in the Tombigbee River on Thursday, before discovering a child’s body in the river the next day.

Authorities said the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences is working to confirm the identities of the victims and the investigation is ongoing.

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