A man searching for his 16-year-old niece found her dead in a vacant field, according to a California sheriff.
The man found his niece in a Covelo field on April 15 while looking for the teen who didn’t come home the night before, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said in an April 16 news release.
The sheriff’s office said it determined the teen had been with a 15-year-old girl the night of April 14. The Covelo teens knew each other.
The 15-year-old old girl is accused of physically assaulting the 16-year-old in the vacant field, according to deputies.
The sheriff’s office said it had “probable cause” to believe the teen’s “death was related to the physical assault.”
The 15-year-old was arrested on April 15 and is facing a murder charge, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies said they are still investigating the incident to determine what led to the physical assault and the 16-year-old’s cause of death.
An autopsy is pending, the sheriff’s office said.
Covelo sits just below the Washington border, about 180 miles north of San Francisco.