Girl found in Seymour stream

CROTHERSVILLE, Ind. -- The body of a missing 10-year-old girl was discovered by a police officer on patrol Sunday, five days after she disappeared while returning home from an errand, authorities said.\nA state trooper on patrol found the body of Katlyn "Katie" Collman, 10, in a stream in a wooded area about five miles north of Seymour, state police Sgt. Jerry Goodin said at a news conference.\nDetails of how the girl died were not released. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday in Louisville, Ky., Goodin said.\nAuthorities issued an Amber Alert for Collman Thursday, two days after her disappearance. Her parents issued a public appeal for her safe return on Friday, the same day authorities released a composite sketch of a young man in a truck whom investigators believed had abducted the girl. The sketch sparked a rash of telephone tips, but none that provided solid information.\n"This is saddening day for law enforcement officials," Goodin said. "We've come to know Katie. It hits everyone very hard."\nAuthorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information in the case.\nNo family members spoke during a news conference at the Vernon Township Fire Department in Crothersville, which has served as the command post for agencies that mobilized to search for the girl. It was there that Collman's parents, Angie Collman and John Neace, issued a written statement Friday appealing for their daughter's safe return.\n"Please do not harm her. We ask that you just drop her off anywhere so that she may return to a family and community that loves her very much and misses her dearly," the parents' statement said.\nTerry Goodin, superintendent of the Crothersville schools, said Katie "always had a smile on her face."\nCounselors would be available at Collman's school, said Terry Goodin, who's also a Democratic state representative and the brother of the state police sergeant.\nSgt. Goodin said authorities waited two days to issue an Amber Alert for Collman because the case did not yet have a lead in the disappearance. Alert criteria say authorities must have a lead on a missing child's whereabouts before an alert can be issued.\nOnce police received a description of a truck Collman had been spotted in, they issued the alert, Sgt. Goodin said. A witness had seen Collman Tuesday in a white Ford F-150 pickup truck about 15 years old that appeared to be clean and well maintained.\nThe composite sketch of the man driving the truck showed a very thin white male, 5' 8" inches to 6' tall, 18 to 20 years old with short, dark hair and a fair complexion. A description said the man smokes cigarettes.