Tragic outcome — Girl found dead in nearby South Salt Lake apartment

Mobile command units from several law enforcement agencies that had been set up at a nearby LDS stake center, where the command post for the volunteer search effort was set up, moved late Tuesday night to the apartment complex where homicide investigators planned to collect evidence throughout the night.

Local police, the FBI, the Utah Attorney General's Office and more than 1,000 volunteers did an extensive search of a 1-1/2 mile radius around the apartment complex. Snyder said at least three exhaustive searches of the area were conducted.

An Amber Alert was not issued Monday night because the situation did not meet the criteria. But by 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Snyder said the fact so much time had passed without any trace of Moo turning up, the severity of the situation became elevated.

"This, to me, has turned into a foul play situation. This is completely out of character for a second-grade, 7-year-old girl," he said. "I'm not taking any chances."

Paul Murphy, with the Utah Attorney General's Office, said several "seasoned veterans" in child abduction cases were consulted and agreed the alert should be issued. "All evidence to them is pointing to foul play," he said.

Classmates and school teachers of Moo were contacted Monday night, but none of them had seen her. The young girl did not have a history of running away or behaving badly, Snyder said.

In addition, about 40 registered sex offenders who live in that area were contacted by Adult Probation and Parole.

"We looked at a list of offenders that live in the area and a couple of our agents spent the night performing field interviews," said Utah Department of Corrections spokeswoman Angie Welling.

Police were also asking for consent searches of homes and noted Tuesday that residents had been cooperative. Dave Smart, an uncle of Elizabeth Smart, helped coordinate Tuesday's volunteer efforts. Ed Smart, Elizabeth's father, was also at the search command post Tuesday to lend support.

Tuesday night, before the discovery of his daughter's body was made, Wah said he did not want to harm the person who took his daughter.

"I just ask the Lord will help my daughter to continue to be strong, that she won't hunger or thirst," he said. "I ask that the Lord will continue to help us to find my daughter. He can see things we can't see."

Hser Nay Moo was last seen about 1 p.m. Monday. Originally, police reported she had a disagreement with her 11-year-old brother and left her apartment to play or go for a walk.

Van Dyke, an LDS service missionary who has helped the young girl and her family since they moved to Utah in August, said that was not entirely true. He said there was no fight between Moo and her brother. He said she was playing outside on the porch, and would occasionally go back inside. The last time she did that was to get a drink about 1 p.m., he said.