Remains ID'd as missing Pierce County 10-year-old

LAKEWOOD, Pierce County — A skull and spine found in a vacant, overgrown lot near Woodbrook Middle School were identified by dental records Wednesday as those of 10-year-old Adre'Anna Jackson, who disappeared from nearby Tillicum in December.

County medical investigators have not yet determined how she died and under what circumstances. But police said they are treating her death as a homicide.

The girl's mother was in Colorado and unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Adre'Anna was last seen on the morning of Dec. 2 when her parents sent her off on a five-minute walk to see whether her school, Tillicum Elementary, was closed because of snow.

With the help of the King County Green River Task Force and FBI forensics experts, Lakewood police are now combing the lot, which is not far from one of the back gates of Fort Lewis Army post, police said.

According to police spokesman Lt. Bret Farrar, police dogs searched the lot immediately after the girl's disappearance but found nothing. The owner of the long-vacant lot, though, began clearing out underbrush and bulldozing there in the last few weeks.

Two children found a skull and a portion of a spinal column Tuesday while searching for snakes in a blackberry bush on the lot. The lot, which is about two miles and across Interstate 5 from Adre'Anna's home, for years has been used as a local dumping ground and by transients who live there, police said.

"We don't know if she was buried there and the body was disturbed by the bulldozing, or if she was dumped there and we just couldn't find her ... or even if she'd somehow gotten back there and gotten hypothermia," Farrar said.

It will take police at least several days to sort through what he estimates to be more than 1,200 pieces of garbage for evidence, Farrar said.

"Hopefully, the crime scene will reveal something to us," he said.

Farrar said police have not focused in on any particular person in her death. Lakewood police had previously used scent dogs to try to track the girl's movements, investigated all the registered sex offenders in the area and called upon the expertise of FBI sonar and dive teams to search American Lake, where the girl was known to play.

Lakewood Police Chief Larry Saunders announced the identification of the girl's remains at a news conference Wednesday.

"The death of a child is a tragedy for the entire community," Saunders said. "We are deeply committed to turning over every stone, initiating every effort to restore justice in this situation and bring closure to the family and community."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com