SACRAMENTO - Investigators believe a black T-shirt emblazoned with a yellow skull that was found near the body of a 12-year-old girl may have belonged to the man who sexually assaulted and killed her.
Sacramento County sheriff's Sgt. James Lewis said Friday that the short-sleeved shirt was discovered on the banks of the Feather River near the body of Courtney Sconce. The site is in Sutter County north of Sacramento.
The Rancho Cordova girl is believed to have been abducted Wednesday afternoon.
Her body was found just hours later, when Sacramento deputies determined that the Sutter County Sheriff's Department was investigating a homicide in which the victim's description matched Sconces.
Lewis did not disclose why investigators linked the wrinkled, dirty T-shirt to a man he described as a suspect in the case.
The sheriff's investigator also said authorities were looking into the possibility that the girl knew her attacker.
''We can't rule out that it was someone she knew. We absolutely don't know, one way or the other,'' Lewis told reporters at the Sacramento sheriff's headquarters.
Lewis said they were seeking a suspect, a white male in his early 20s with shoulder-length brown hair.