A five-year-old American girl found dead under a thin layer of cement may have been buried alive, an autopsy has found.
The body of Nevaeh Buchanan was uncovered in a shallow grave by the banks of the River Raisin in southern Michigan on June 4.
She had been last seen in a car park outside her family's apartment building on May 24 wearing the same clothes she was found buried in.
An autopsy yesterday revealed Nevaeh suffocated after inhaling dirt, suggesting the girl may have been still breathing when she was shoved into the crude grave.
Police have refused to comment on how the body was buried other than to say it was found under a thin layer of concrete.
A man fishing with his son and father made the grim discovery after encountering a smell he said "overwhelmed them".
Nevaeh's grieving mother broke down when she learned the fate of her daughter, the girl's uncle Michael Buchanan said.
The family has vowed the person or people responsible will be brought to justice.
"We will find out who did it … and you will see judgement day," Nevaeh's great-aunt Diana Lawson told WXYA.
No one has been charged over the killing but local police have named two convicted sex offenders — George Kennedy, 39, and Roy Lee Smith, 48 — as persons of interest in the case.
Both men, believed to be friends of Nevaeh's mother, are already in custody for breaching the terms of their parole.
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