April Millsap was out walking her dog when she was kidnapped and beaten to death Millsap family photo/Michigan State Police/AP Nearly 10 years ago, a 14-year-old girl from a small town in Michigan was brutally murdered while walking her dog. Unbeknownst to the killer, however, the girl would help solve her own murder thanks to a fitness tracking app on her phone. April Millsap was last seen alive on July 24, 2014.
She was out walking her dog in Armada, Mich., when she sent a text to her boyfriend. “I think I almost got kidnapped omfg,” April wrote, according to reports from the and .
Moments later, the reported, citing authorities, April was hit over the head with a motorcycle helmet, stomped on and beaten to death in an attempted sexual assault. April’s body was found hours later after her dog alerted two joggers to her body in a drainage ditch, reported. The outlet also reported that a police officer would later testify that her blouse was torn and wrapped around her waist.
A medical examiner would later rule that April died of blunt force trauma to the head and asphyxiation caused by neck compression, according to the outlets. No DNA was found at the scene, but a boot print on her body would later be used to help identify April’s killer — and so would key data from her phone. WDIV reported that prosecutors said a witness saw a man with a teen on his motorcycle on July 24.
The witness provided a description for a sketch of the suspect. A month after April’s deat.