FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- A Texas medical examiner is investigating whether the remains of a child found in the Fort Worth area are those of a girl abducted four years ago.
Dr. Nizam Peerwani said Friday the remains and a pair of pink Barbie tennis shoes found near Lake Worth this week by horseback riders may belong to 6-year-old Opal Jennings, who was abducted from her grandmother's home in Saginaw northwest of Fort Worth.
Peerwani said a skull was consistent with a child 5 or 6 years old but the gender of the remains has not been established. He said DNA tests may take up to six weeks to complete so there is no positive identification at this time.
"I can't speculate whether or not this is Opal Jennings as of yet. We are only suspecting that," Peerwani told The Dallas Morning News. "Certainly, if we do identify that the remains are that of Opal Jennings, then this would be a wonderful thing because it would bring a closure to the case."
Richard Lee Franks of Fort Worth was convicted three years ago of aggravated kidnapping in the girl's disappearance.
