Missing Vermont girl, 12, found dead

BURLINGTON, Vt., July 3 (UPI) -- An autopsy will be performed on the remains of a missing 12-year-old Vermont girl found in a newly dug grave, police said.

State police said the case led to separate sexual assault charges filed against her stepfather and uncle, CNN reported Thursday.

The remains of Brooke Bennett, reported missing a week ago, were found Wednesday in Randolph, Vt., about 60 miles southeast of Burlington, police said. An autopsy will be conducted, but "it appears to be foul play," Col. James Baker, Vermont State Police director, said.

Bennett's uncle, Michael Jacques, was arrested Sunday on a charge of sexually assaulting another child, police said. Information gathered in a search of his home led police to the grave site, Baker said.

The girl also told detectives she had sex with the Bennett's former stepfather, Ray Gagnon, in June 2007

In a police affidavit, the girl Jacques is accused of assaulting told investigators she was chosen to be in a sex program called "Breckenridge" and she understood Bennett was in the same program, CNN said.

Gagnon, 40, of San Antonio, is charged with sexually assaulting a minor and a federal obstruction of justice charge, police said.