Missing Pennsylvania Toddler Found Dead

BRADDOCK, Pa. – The body of a 23-month-old girl was found in a wooded area outside Pittsburgh on Sunday, just blocks from the home where she was reported missing a day earlier.

Officials identified the girl as Nyia Miangel Page, said Tom Vislay, an investigator with the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.

"Yes, she's identified as the missing girl," Vislay said, declining to elaborate.

An autopsy will be conducted Monday.

Rankin Mayor Nicholas Glova said earlier Sunday that investigators had found the body of a girl about four blocks from where Nyia Page lived. He said authorities were doing everything possible to find out what happened over the past 24 hours.

Glova said the body was found shortly before 5 p.m. and matched the description of Page, who was reported missing Saturday. The child's body was found in an abandoned playground.

Police gave no immediate details of the discovery. No arrests were immediately made.

Another child found that Nyia Miangel Page was not in her bed at about 7:30 a.m. Saturday and alerted other family members, who called police after a search, authorities said. Braddock police searched the home and then contacted the state police to issue an Amber Alert.

Police are not naming the girl's family members, but said her mother told them the girl was last seen after trying to crawl into bed with her parents about 12:30 a.m. The mother told police she put the youngster back into her own bed in an upstairs room.

After a daylong search in 20-degree temperatures by police, emergency crews and bloodhounds, the investigation resumed early Sunday.

They searched the girl's house with the help of dogs for a second time Sunday and gave polygraph exams to the three men who were at the house Saturday — the girl's father, grandfather and a boyfriend of her grandmother.

Allegheny County police Lt. Bob Downey said police gave the exams to the men because males are more typically involved in cases of missing children of the girl's age. He declined to say what the tests revealed.

Police also went through buildings and gathered trash bags full of potential evidence, including diapers, in the neighborhood.