Yahoo! News - Body Found Is Missing Mo. Girl's

Police described Johnson as a local transient who sometimes slept in the factory. Ernie Williamson said he had only known Johnson a few days and that his roommate and Johnson were up late drinking the night before. He said Johnson was sleeping on the couch Friday morning.

Authorities said Cassandra was in the kitchen around 7:30 a.m. with her father. Williamson said he was about to pour his daughter a bowl of cereal and left the room briefly to go the bathroom. When he returned, the girl, barefoot and dressed in a white nightgown, had disappeared.

The father said he also noticed that Johnson was gone. About a half-hour later, Williamson said, Johnson returned to the house, wet and muddy, and said he had been swimming in the nearby river. Police began questioning him soon after he returned.