Update: Body of Girl Found Near Long Beach Church

Updated at 7 p.m.

Long Beach Police Department has confirmed that the body of a girl was found in the Los Altos United Methodist Church parking lot today, and she was allegedly fatally injured by a man who is either her father or stepfather.

City News Service reported that the police say the girl is 9, and that the adult found with her body was the parent figure. CNS reports that the pair were found at about 11 a.m., and the man  was taken for treatment of serious injuries at a local hospital.
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Earlier story:

Long Beach Police Department said that two bodies were found Saturday at Los Altos United Methodist Church, one deceased and the other transported to a local hospital.

Nancy Pratt, a spokeswoman for the police department, could not confirm a report by the local ABC station that the deceased was a child and the bodies were found across the street from the East Long Beach church.

"Two bodies were found at that location. One was determined deceased, the other [person] was transported to a local hospital," Pratt e-mailed Patch. She said that more details could not be released due to the investigation underway Saturday.

ABC reported that a neighbor near the cross streets of Woodruff Avenue and Willowbrook Street told the station that the body was that of a young girl. The larger cross streets are near the San Diego Freeway (405) and Willow.

If the neighbor's report is true, it is chilling. From ABC:

"Neighbor Linda Jones told Eyewitness News the body may possibly be that of a young girl. She says her husband saw a girl walking with a man down the street late Friday night.

"'He said 'I actually thought about going after them,'" she said. "Just because it was unusual, it was so late at night. But he didn't do that. And then this morning when he took me over to work, we actually drove right down the street right passed where it happened, but nobody discovered the body yet."

Details were sketchy and Patch will update as news breaks. But the Long Beach Police Department was releasing very little information.