This is a reprehensible crime precisely because we, as a self-proclaimed "moral nation," have a duty to do everything to protect the defenseless among us. Children are virtually defenseless. Yet, we haven't made that much progress in deterring/preventing crime of violence against them. Besides the fact that this latest incident will make your stomach churn, it serves as yet another example that we have yet to solve this deeply disturbing crisis: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6680176.html Sheriff: Landfill body appears to be Fla. girl By BRENT KALLESTAD Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press Oct. 22, 2009, 6:19AM ORANGE PARK, Fla. â Authorities have tentatively identified a body found in a landfill as that of 7-year-old Somer Thompson, a north Florida girl who disappeared on her walk home from school, the sheriff in charge of the case said Thursday. Sheriff Rick Beseler said Thursday that the identification was based on clothing on the body and a birthmark that matched the girl's. The partially covered body of the child was found in a Georgia landfill near the Florida state line, after investigators followed garbage trucks leaving the neighborhood where the child disappeared Monday. Beseler said at a news conference he still fears for the community until a suspect is apprehended. He wouldn't talk about what evidence police have recovered, or whether investigators believe the crime was committed by one or more people. An FBI forensic unit is helping process evidence from the landfill. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation planned an autopsy Thursday. The landfill is in Folkston, Ga., about 48 miles from where the girl disappeared. Somer vanished on her mile-long walk home from school in Orange Park. She was squabbling with another child, and her sister told her to stop. The girl got upset, walked ahead of the group and wasn't seen again. Orange Park is a suburb of Jacksonville just south of Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The area where the girl disappeared is a heavily populated residential area with homes, apartment complexes and condominiums. The girl's father, Sam Thompson, lives in Graham, N.C.