Tragedy as eight year old girl is found dead after hundreds of volunteers searched for her

Nastya went missing in 19 February at the end of her gymnastics class in the city of Ussuriysk in the Russian Far East. A local police source told Ussur news website: 'The child was killed. There were multiple wounds on her body. There are reasons to think that the criminal raped the girl.'

Hundreds of volunteers had earlier searched for the missing girl who vanished on a 100 metre walk home from her gym class.  

Her coach ended the class ten minutes early, and she started walking on her own, say police. 

'The preliminary version is that the criminal put the child in the car and drove her out of the city. As to what happened next, we don't know,' said the police source. 

Another version that surfaced later is that Nastya could have been hit by a taxi driver who got scared of what he did. He then drove the body out of the town to hide the evidence. 

A driver is being interrogated, it was reported. An autopsy is being conducted on the girl's body which was found some 15 km from the city border and about 350 metres from a road to Banevurovo village. 

Nastya's family raised alarm as soon as she disappeared.  

More than 100 police and 300-plus volunteers searched the city and surrounding areas looking for her. 

'Many of the people who took very active part in searching for the girl are now at the spot where the body were found. We have to kindly ask them to leave the area as we've got to protect the traces of the criminal', said the police source.

'She had absolutely no reason to run away from home. She was a docile child, she loved her parents,' said he mother Maria as the hunt was underway.