Police are searching for a 1-year-old child who went missing after authorities found her mother dead inside a Wheeling apartment, where they believe she was murdered.
Family members had filed a missing persons report just before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday for 21-year-old Ja'nya Murphy after she failed to report to work or contact them since the previous day, authorities said.
Officers investigating that report went to Murphy's home, where she lived with her 1-year-old daughter Jaclyn "Angel" Dobbs, in the 300 block of Inland Drive in Wheeling. There, they were able to access a balcony of her apartment, where they found an unlocked door.
"An ensuing check for well-being revealed Ms. Murphy had apparently been murdered and Angel to be missing," Wheeling police said in a release.
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Investigators from several area departments are now working to find Angel, as well as her mother's killer, and have asked for the public's help.
"We need the public's assistance in this," deputy chief Al Stephen said.
Further information on what happened wasn't immediately released by police.
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Authorities say they currently do not have enough information to issue an AMBER Alert in the case.
"We have no information to go along with who she might be with, the vehicle she might be in," Stephen said. "The only thing that we know is that we have a child that's missing, and we're trying to work our way through it."
