FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- DNA tests have confirmed remains found recently near Fort Worth are those of a 6-year-old girl abducted from her grandparents home five years ago.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner said Monday Opal Jennings died from a crushing blow to the head and the death has been ruled a homicide, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in its online edition.
The girl was playing with two other children outside the home at Saginaw, near Fort Worth, when she was abducted by a man and forced into a car. There was no sign of her until last Dec. 30 when horsemen found the remains about nine miles away.
An extensive search of the area on the west side of Lake Worth found more bones and a pair of pink Barbie tennis shoes, the same brand the Opal was wearing the day she vanished in an abduction.
A jury convicted Richard Lee Franks of Fort Worth of aggravated kidnapping three years ago in the Jennings case although no body had been found. He admitted that he gave the girl a ride to a store but said he dropped her off safely.
