SKYLAR KAUFFMAN - 9 yo (5/2011) - Souderton (btwn Allentown and Philly) PA

Poster's note: Belongs here in Amber Alert anyway. More info and photo. to come I hope

According to broadcast reports, Souderton police are searching for a
missing 9-year-old girl named Skylar Kauffman who has been missing since
around 7:00 p.m. Monday.

She a white female, 4'6, 71 pounds,
with brown hair. She was last seen wearing a yellow Justin Bieber
t-shirt and black pants, she is described as a white female around 4
feet 6 inches and between 65- and 75 pounds.

The Pennsylvania State Police have been contacted about issuing an amber alert.

http://timesherald.com/articles/2011/05/09/news/doc4dc8b08315c0a599184099.txt

Poster's note: Tragic outcome.

Update: Search For Missing Girl Ends Tragically In Montgomery Co.

9-Year-Old Girl Found Dead Near Apartment In Souderton

Posted: 1:04 am EDT May 10, 2011Updated: 6:23 am EDT May 10, 2011

SOUDERTON, Pa. -- Police in Montgomery County say they have arrested the man they believe murdered a 9-year-old girl last night.Police said Skylar Kauffman was found dead near the spot in Souderton where she went missing several hours earlier.Kauffman was last seen playing in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Chestnut Street at about 5:30 Monday afternoon.An Amber Alert was issued and a search began at 7:00 Monday night.Her body was found several hours later, between the apartment building and a nearby cemetery.Police said evidence was gathered at the scene, including clothing with blood on it.Police are not saying who the suspect is, but he is expected to be charged later Tuesday morning.
http://www.wfmz.com/bucksnews/27834522/detail.html

Souderton girl, 9, found dead



A 9-year-old girl, Skylar Kauffman, reported missing from Souderton in
Montgomery County Monday night was found dead just after midnight near
where she was last seen playing, authorities are reporting Tuesday
morning.

Police are saying Skylar's death is a homicide, according to reports.

The Pennsylvania State Police issued an Amber Child Abduction Alert for
Skylar around 7 p.m. She was last seen playing around 5:30 p.m. Monday
in a parking lot near an apartment complex near the Hillside Cemetery at
Second and Chestnut streets in Souderton.
http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-souderton-skylar-kauffman-murder-20110510,0,7440118.story

A 9-year-old Montgomery County girl who was reported missing Monday
night has been found dead and police are questioning a 40-year-old
neighbor.Police said the body of Skyler Kauffman was found around midnight in a
Dumpster near the apartment complex in Souderton Borough where she was
last seen earlier in the day.How she died has not been disclosed, but Police Chief James P. Leary
told reporters the girl struggled during an apparent assault.Investigators are questioning a man in Skyler's death and Leary said they expected to charge him.The man had blood on his pants when police looking for the girl Monday night questioned him, Leary said."We have evidence linking him to the victim and to the crime," he said.Skyler was reported missing Monday when she did not come home for dinner and State Police issued an Amber Alert.More details are expected later.http://www.philly.com/philly/news/121553124.html

9-year-old Souderton girl found dead; suspect arrested

SOUDERTON, Pa. - May 10, 2011 (WPVI) -- The search for a missing girl in Montgomery County has ended in tragedy. Authorities found her dead body overnight in Souderton, and have ruled her death a homicide.
Police believe they have caught the man responsible for the death of 9-year-old Skylar Kauffman. A 40-year-old man who lived in the little girl's apartment complex has been taken into custody. Charges have not yet been filed against the man, but they are expected. Action News has learned that the District Attorney's Office will be taking over the case.
Police say the victim knew the man, whom they have not yet identified. He was found yesterday with blood splatter on his clothing.
Souderton Police Chief James Leary told reporters, "We are quite certain that we are going to link him conclusively to the crime with an overwhelming volume of physical evidence."
Skylar was last seen at 5:30 p.m. playing in the parking lot of her apartment complex. Police say her parents became concerned when she didn't show up for dinner.
Authorities from across the county mobilized for the search and an Amber Alert was called. Eventually, they found a blood trail in the basement of her home that ran cold. Then around midnight, authorities discovered her body wrapped up in a dumpster several hundred feet away from her apartment complex.
"Our police department has had multiple contacts with this little girl, and all of the contacts have been positive. She's nothing but a sweet, little, innocent girl. As for my fatigue, we'll work through it and make sure we dot all the I's and cross all the T's, make sure the perpetrator remains in jail," said Chief Leary.
Skylar was only 71-pounds, but she put up a fight, which left a tremendous amount of physical evidence for police.
Action News asked Chief Leary if he believes the suspect acted alone, to which Leary replied, "Absolutely. Totally one and done type of issue. And there is no reason to believe there are previous victims and there certainly won't be any more."
Police did notify the school district about Skylar's death so that grief counselors could be arranged for students.
Skylar would have been 10-years-old next month.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8122162

Man Charged With 9-Year-Old's Murder

Police: Neighbor, 40, Arrested, Being Charged

SOUDERTON, Pa. - Montgomery County district
attorney Risa Vetri Ferman says James Lee Troutman is charged with the
murder of his 9-year-old neighbor, Skylar Kauffman, in Souderton. Images: Suspect In Skylar Kauffman Killing There were also reports on Tuesday that Troutman confessed to police. Ferman said a searcher found a pool of blood in the apartment building on Monday night after Kauffman was reported missing. An investigator came on Troutman, 24, in the vicinity and Troutman appeared to have blood on his shoes. Ferman said Kauffman had been sexually abused and strangled.

The incident in Montgomery County has stunned neighbors and police. Souderton Police Chief James P. Leary told Fox 29 News early Tuesday morning that a suspect was being interviewed. Kauffman was found dead around midnight, just a few hours after she was reported missing. She was last seen playing with friends in the parking lot of her apartment building at 2nd and Chestnut streets around 5:30 p.m. Fox
29's Steve Keeley reported that several neighbors told him that the
suspect had a prior run-in with Skylar Kauffman approximately two weeks
ago. Several people told Keeley they saw the girl running away from the
suspect's apartment, screaming and crying during that incident. Keeley
said the incident was confirmed by several officers as well as the
police chief, but no other details were available as of Tuesday morning. Ferman also confirmed the prior incident happened. She also said Troutman didn't have a criminal record. A
significant amount of blood and a trail with some of Kauffman's
belongings, including her boots, led police from the apartment
building's basement to the area where her body was found wrapped in a
blanket, Leary said. "She was out playing. She didn't return for
dinner. She was quite late. Her family became concerned. They contacted
us. As it darkened, we became concerned. When it became full dark, we
were very concerned," Leary said. "We mobilized our forces, and we
conducted a very, very careful search of the general area and a very
specific search of the local area. And unfortunately we found her body
in the Dumpster." Police believe the 9-year-old was beaten during
a sexual assault and violent struggle with her neighbor at the U-shaped
apartment complex. Officers interviewed the man once, felt
something was amiss, then questioned him a second time, which is when
they allegedly spotted blood. "Each time they noticed something
more and more alarming about his conduct and his response to the
questions," Leary said. "… As they interviewed him, they noticed some
blood on his person. And we have been able to gather some physical
evidence that has linked him to the crime." Police said the man
has been cooperative during interviews, and they are continuing to
investigate and collect evidence in the case. Police said the suspect
was known to them but not for anything like this alleged crime. Leary
said Kauffman's family has now been notified of her death, and the
police chief was working early Tuesday with school officials, who will
be notifying students of their classmate's death and providing grief
counselors. "We fully expect to continue our investigation, to
continue to gather the evidence, to analyze the evidence. We expect to
charge him within hours. We expect to successfully prosecute him," Leary
said.
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/Souderton_Girl_Murdered_Police_Say_Skylar_Kaufmann_051011

The photo wasn't meant for this. In it, Skyler Kauffman's brown hair falls over her shoulders, framing a bright, toothy smile.
On Monday, the image became the cornerstone of an Amber Alert. By
Tuesday morning, it had gone viral in the worst way, as the face of a
9-year-old murder victim.


Police found the girl's body in the trash outside the Souderton
apartment building where she lived. They arrested a 24-year-old
neighbor, James L. Troutman, after he came to his door with blood on his
shoes. Later, they say, he confessed.
The family, friends and classmates who went to sleep worrying about Skyler woke up mourning her.
The girl they described Tuesday was an extrovert who loved to sing
and dance, relished the outdoors and had an independent streak - not to
mention an infectious grin. "She just had a smile that would not end,"
said Seward J. Foland of Telford, who called himself a family friend.
Gina McGonigle worked at a Souderton day-care center that Skyler
attended. McGonigle won't forget how the girl often bounded smiling into
the building and wrapped her arms around the teacher like they hadn't
seen each other in weeks.
"She is one of the kids that I remember the most," McGonigle said in
an email. She wished she could tell Skyler she will be missed - "and how
we could all use one of her bear hugs right now."
Skyler was an only child, living in the apartment with her mother, Heather Gebhard, and her grandmother, Pamela Gebhard.
On her Facebook page, the younger Gebhard had described herself as
"mom to a wonderful daughter" and joined groups including "Proud to be a
Mom" and "Click if you Love your Kids!"
After three years at Nash Elementary School in North Penn, Skyler had
transferred in January to E. Merton Crouthamel School in Souderton.
Both schools on Tuesday dispatched grief counselors for children.
Teachers at the Souderton school also gave children the option of
writing or drawing messages to remember the little girl. More than a few
drew Skyler engaged in one of her favorite pastimes: on the playground
swings.
"This is one of those days that you hope never happens," Souderton Area Schools Superintendent Fred Johnson said.
Trisha Williams said she met Gebhard when both were pregnant and
later saw her almost monthly at family-building classes hosted by
Grandview Hospital. Skyler, Williams said, was a leader, the type who
preferred running up a slide to gliding down it. "She knew what she
wanted to do and how she wanted to do it," she said.
Neighbors at the complex also described the girl as fearless, saying
she would sometimes run from unit to unit, knock on doors and strike up
conversations with tenants.
That included her alleged killer. Police said Troutman once let
Skyler and another girl in his apartment, after they knocked on his door
and asked to use his bathroom.
"She was very friendly, maybe too friendly," said Tom DiNora III, 36,
whose daughter played with Skyler. "I used to tell her, 'You can't just
walk into people's apartments or go down to the basement with people
you don't know.'"
Another neighbor, Corey Wagner, saw the girl's demeanor as refreshing. "She had a very strong personality," Wagner said.
Scores of people gathered outside the complex for an candlelight
vigil. Dozens more posted online condolences, some as the news broke
before dawn.
Foland, the family friend from Telford, said he met an older man from
the neighborhood Tuesday who Skyler and her friends regularly stopped
by his house to run errands or help him and his wife.
"She was an angel," Foland said. "She's going to be taken care of."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/121598988.html

I am so sorry to learn of this tragic outcome.

I'm stunned. WTF is wrong with these murdering beasts.

When 9-year-old Skyler Kauffman didn’t come in for dinner after playing
with friends Monday evening outside her Souderton Garden Apartments
home, her family went looking, then notified police who continued the
search and put out an Amber alert.

“It’s one of those situations
where everyone did what they were supposed to do,” Montgomery County
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said. It wasn't enough.

James
Lee Troutman, 24, who lived in another apartment in the same complex at
Second and Chestnut streets, was arraigned Tuesday evening on charges
including murder, kidnapping and rape of a child.

Minutes before
midnight, Detective George Moyer had found Kauffman’s body wrapped in a
comforter under bags of trash in a trash container behind the
apartments.

Troutman had no significant police record, Ferman said.

“This is one of those terribly disturbing situations where they happen seemingly out of nowhere,” she said.

During the arraignment, Troutman sat for much of the time with his head cupped by one or both of his hands.

He
answered “yes” to Magisterial District Judge Kenneth Deatelhauser’s
question of whether he understood the charges, then was returned to
jail. Because of the charges, Troutman is not eligible to be freed on
bail, Deatelhauser said. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for 1 p.m.
May 19. Troutman did not have an attorney at the arraignment.

“Dirtbag”
was the first of the epithets shouted at Troutman as he was taken,
wearing a bullet-proof vest, from a police car into the arraignment.

After the arraignment, the shouts became such a din that individual ones could not be made out.

“You’re gonna burn,” one said.

“Die, Troutman, die,” another said.

Police
were called by Skylar's mother and grandmother about 7:11 p.m. Monday,
according to the affidavit of probable cause. Skylar had last been seen
by the family about 5 p.m.

Another resident told the responding
officer he had seen blood in a basement area of one of the apartment
buildings. When the officer went to the basement, he found both blood
and a clog that was similar to the one Kauffman had been described as
wearing, the court papers say.

Montgomery County Detective Edward
Schikel, of the Forensic Services Unit, who met and talked to Troutman
while investigating at the scene, saw what appeared to be blood on one
of Troutman’s sneakers, police said.

That attention to detail helped speed up the investigation and lead to the arrest, Ferman said.

“Without that observation, I don’t know if we’d be here today,” she said.

After
going to Troutman’s apartment and being given permission by Troutman’s
fiancé to search for the missing girl, Schikel found bloody clothes,
police said.

Troutman’s fiancée, Heather Clemens, said that
Troutman left the apartment about 5 p.m. Monday and said he was going
outside to play games on his cell phone, investigators said.

Clemens
later heard a female voice screaming loudly, “wailing” and saying no in
a way that was “long and drawn out when she said no, like nooooooo!
while she was still crying,” investigators said.

When Clemens
called Troutman, investigators said, she did not get an answer, but he
called back about five minutes later and said he was exercising at
Indian Crest Middle School. After she told him about the screams,
Clemens told investigators, Troutman said he hoped “everything’s OK.”

He later came home, changed, took a shower and they ate dinner, police said.

Troutman initially admitted to talking to Skylar around 5 p.m. Monday night, but denied killing her, police said.

He later admitted choking her, police said.

Troutman described the killing as having happened when he “snapped” and “It was like a white out,” police said.

Asked
by officers why he killed Skylar, he said he had to because once he
took her down the basement he knew she could get him in trouble,” police
said.

An autopsy showed Kauffman died of asphyxia and blunt force trauma, police said.

There
was no previous connection between Skylar and Troutman, other than
being neighbors, Ferman said. He was not a relative or friend of the
family.

There was, however, a previous incident, police said, in
which on April 18, Skylar and another girl were near Troutman’s
apartment when they needed to use the bathroom and he invited them to
use his.

Taking them to the bathroom, he told the girls to ignore the photos of naked women on the walls, police said.

The
girls became nervous and tried to leave, but found the apartment door
was locked, then unlocked it and escaped, police said. In that incident,
Troutman also allegedly asked the two girls if they wanted to see his
“bird,” police said.

No charges were filed in that case.

http://www.themorningsun.com/articles/2011/05/11/news/doc4dca6d4bb3f08273444982.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Telford Fire Chief: Background check on James Troutman turned up nothing

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Telford Fire Company was one of the emergency Management response team units that responded to the Amber Alert issued on behalf of Skyler Rae Kauffman late Monday night.

In the case of this particular emergency — which tragically turned into a murder case — police needed the fire department’s light towers, lights and the generator that powers them to assist with the search.

Chief Ray Fegley added that fire police assisted with traffic control when police closed off streets in Souderton to expedite the investigation.

Firefighters from the department also lent a hand in the search for the girl, who was allegedly sexually assaulted and killed by a neighbor.

So imagine the department’s reaction to the announcement Tuesday that James L. Troutman, a “probationary” member of the department until he moved to Souderton, had been arrested and accused of the crime.

“Obviously we were all stunned. We were totally shocked when we found out who the individual was,” Fegley said.

Getting besieged with calls from news organizations, Fegley said the department felt compelled to issue a statement confirming that Troutman was a probationary member of the department from Jan. 12 to June 8 of last year.

“You’re always careful about the way things get realized,” Fegley said. “You have an organization that has good people doing good things. And (having a former member accused of violent crimes is) just a scary thought.”

When someone applies to become a volunteer firefighter, they are not automatically accepted. A probationary period for applicants requires a background check and an interview, in which they are briefed on the various time commitments that the fire company requires.

“There was nothing that turned up during that routine (background) check,” Fegley said.

According to Fegley, Troutman kept to himself, didn’t cause any problems, and described his time with the department as “unremarkable.”

“There wasn’t anything that stood out about the individual. He was a young man trying something new ... trying to find out his place,” he said.

When asked about the circumstances of Troutman’s leaving the department, Fegley said that he was in between jobs at the time and “trying to find a better apartment.”

He said that both Troutman and the department agreed that his new Souderton residence was going to be too far away from the firehouse to merit continuing his association with the fire company.

“The officers and members of the Telford Volunteer Fire Company extend sincere condolences to the family and friends of Skyler Kauffman,” said the fire company’s statement, signed by Fegley and president Ronald B. Chernuka.

Alleged Child Killer: I Got Rid of Her
By Teresa Masterson
NBCPhiladelphia.com NBCPhiladelphia.com
updated 5/11/2011 4:17:09 PM ET 2011-05-11T20:17:09

"I got rid of her."

That's what 24-year-old James Troutman told police about 9-year-old Skyler Kauffman, according to court documents.

The Souderton man abducted, raped, beat and strangled the third grader while police searched for the little girl Monday night, Montgomery District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman says.

“An autopsy was conducted earlier today. We found that Skyler died from asphyxia as well as blunt force trauma,” says Ferman. “She had significant genital injuries to her body as well."

The coroner listed the manner of death as "homicide" on Skyler's death certificate.

"Last night while I was eating dinner she was getting strangled," said Skyler's father Eric Kauffman. "Where’s the justice in that."

Troutman was arrested on charges of murder, kidnapping and rape of a child less than 16 hours after an Amber Alert went out for 9-year-old Skylar in the Montgomery County town.
Read more:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42979292

please tell me this state has the death penalty -

The first incident should have been reported to LE and they should have taken action.

If she had a previous encounter with this POS that should have been the starting point for the search.

He needs to have "significant genital injuries" done to him.

If his bathroom was plastered with nudie pics his GF must have known he is a pervert.

That poor darling girl.

Fiancee of Skyler's suspected killer speaks

SOUDERTON, Pa. - May 11, 2011 (WPVI) -- Action News sat down with the now former fiancée of James Troutman, the man charged with the death of 9-year-old Skyler Kauffman.
21-year-old Heather Clemens says it chills her to now realize she had been engaged to marry a "monster."

"Every time his face comes through my mind all I can see is just evil," Clemens said.
Heather Clemens dreamed of a bright future with the 24-year-old Troutman.
She says there was never a hint, until Monday, that he was capable of harming anyone.
"I couldn't believe it; I just couldn't believe it because that wasn't the person he was to me," Clemens said.
Heather started dating Troutman a year and a half ago and they lived at the Souderton Gardens apartment complex.
RELATED: View the entire interview with Heather Clemens
Police say Troutman took Skyler down two short sets of stairs to the basement where he raped the 9-year-old and killed her.
Heather was in the apartment above and heard screams, thinking they were coming from the apartment above hers.
"It's not unusual to hear screaming, laughter, on the occasion if a child is throwing a tantrum, telling their parents 'no,'" Clemens said.
Clemens says a while later, Troutman returned home and said he had been exercising at the track.
"He was very sweaty and he was covered in what looked like mud to me, dried mud, on his clothing from his chest down to his shoes," Clemens said.
She now knows it was blood, not mud.
The police told her yesterday morning that the man she loved had been charged with murder and rape.
"To turn around and here that he did such a horrible thing, I felt like I was living with a stranger, a monster, maybe, even a demon," the former fiancée said.
Clemens says she believed Troutman when he told her nothing happened when the police came to investigate an incident three weeks ago.
That's when Skyler and a friend told their parents that Troutman had locked them in his apartment and talked dirty to them.
The police investigated and never filed charges.
Heather says she has no words now for Troutman.
"The only thing I want to know is why, but I know, no matter what, there is no right answer; there's no words, I have nothing to say to him," Clemens said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Montgomery County coroner released the official cause of death for Skyler Kauffman.
According to Coroner Walter Hofman, Skyler died of asphyxia and multiple blunt force injuries, ruling her death as a homicide.
Skyler was last seen at 5:30 p.m. Monday playing in the parking lot of the Souderton Gardens apartment complex. Police say her parents became concerned when she didn't show up for dinner.
An Amber Alert was issued but, around midnight, authorities discovered her body wrapped in a blanket and buried in the dumpster.
Court documents say Troutman has admitted to choking the girl and repeatedly hitting her head against the floor.
Those same documents say police found bloody clothes in Troutman's apartment and he claimed he killed the girl "because once he took her down to the basement, he knew she could get him in trouble."
Troutman, wearing a bulletproof vest, covered his face as he entered the courthouse Tuesday afternoon.
Police had to tape off the area outside the courthouse, a street away from the apartment complex, for security reasons due to angry residents.
Heather Clemens says she is most distraught about what happened to Skyler and her family.
She wants everyone to know that if she had the slightest hint that Troutman could harm a child, she would have warned her neighbors and the police.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=8125415

Obituary: Skyler R. Kauffman




Published: Wednesday, May 11, 2011






Skyler R. Kauffman, age 9, of Souderton, left this earth unexpectedly for her heavenly home Monday, May 9, 2011.

Born in West Rockhill Twp., she was the precious daughter of Heather Gebhard and Eric Kauffman of Souderton.

A third-grader at E.M. Crouthamel Elementary School in Souderton, Skyler loved to dance and took dance classes at the Marlyn Abramson School of Dance in Lansdale. She loved music, loved to swim and especially enjoyed summer camp at Camp Hopwood in Towamencin.

In addition to her parents, she is survived by her maternal grandmother, Pam Gebhard of Souderton; her maternal grandfather, Steve Gebhard of Pottstown; her paternal grandparents, Spencer and Carol Kauffman of Harleysville; her great-grandfather, Wallace Huhn of Telford; her great-grandmother Evelyn Gebhard of Pottstown; her great-grandfather, Charles Gebhard; as well as numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her great-grandmother, Gladys Huhn.

Funeral Services will be held Monday, May 16, at 11AM in the Calvary Church of Souderton, 820 Route 113, Souderton. Interment will follow in the Keller’s Church Cemetery, Bedminster Twp. Family will receive friends Sunday, May 15, from 5 to 8PM in the Sadler-Suess Funeral Home, 33 N. Main St., Telford. There will be no calling hours Monday. Memorial contributions can be made to the Skyler Kauffman Memorial Fund, c/o Citizens Bank, 705 Route 113, Souderton, PA 18964. www.sadlersuessfuneralhome.net

http://timesherald.com/articles/2011/05/11/news/doc4dcb0126bb09e669832478.txt

Relatives grieve loss of Skyler Kauffman



Published: Friday, May 13, 2011

NORTH COVENTRY — Surrounded by his family, Steven Gebhard talked about the death of his only grandchild, Skyler Kauffman, and realized he won’t ever get to take her for a motorcycle ride like he wanted to.

“I didn’t get to see her for a couple years,” Gebhard said, acknowledging he lived out of state for a while. Gebhard, Skyler’s maternal grandfather, said he kept in touch in phone calls with Skyler and with his daughter, Heather, and he loved the “outgoing girl” who was always smiling.

“I said ‘When PopPop gets his bike, I’ll take you on a motorcycle ride,’” Gebhard recalled. “She loved that. But that ain’t gonna happen now.”

Skyler Kauffman went missing from the Souderton apartment complex where she lived with her mother Monday. She was found by investigators who had issued an Amber Alert for the 9-year-old, in a Dumpster hours after their search began. James Lee Troutman, 24, who lived in the same apartment complex as Skyler and her mother, has been charged with raping and murdering Skyler.

Gebhard, his brother, sister-in-law and mother described how their family learned of Skyler’s disappearance and eventually her murder initially through media reports, and prayed from a distance that Skyler would be OK.

“My daughter’s the one who called us and told us that they put an Amber Alert out for “ Skyler, said Jim Gebhard, Skyler’s great-uncle. “When we got the call they canceled (the Amber Alert) we were hoping and praying to God that they found her. But we got a phone call at 3 o’clock in the morning saying that she was dead.”

Steven Gebhard said he called his daughter after hearing Skyler had been found dead, and “that’s when she verified that my granddaughter was dead.”

“I thought maybe she was just over at her friend’s house and Heather couldn’t find her,” Steven Gebhard said, explaining what was going through is mind when he first heard his granddaughter was lost. “But when you issue an Amber Alert, it means that somebody took her, kidnapped her. I would have never imagined she was dead.”

“You wouldn’t think it would be a murder,” Gebhard continued. “I never thought this would happen to me.”

Gebhard said the family is going to try their best to get through Skyler’s viewing and funeral services scheduled for Sunday and Monday in Souderton, but he knows that won’t be easy.

Compounding the grief of losing his only granddaughter, Gebhard said, is not having answers from investigators about what happened and why action was not taken against Skyler’s alleged killer after an incident in April where the police were called.

According to published reports, Skyler’s mother called police April 18 after Skyler informed her Troutman, locked Skyler and a friend of the girl in his apartment.

Gebhard said something should have been done.

“Why wasn’t something done to him?” Gebhard said. He explained that Skyler did the right thing back in April by telling her mother of the incident allegedly involving Troutman, and Skyler’s mom did the right thing by calling police. Gebhard said the police should have done more.

Gebhard said other people should learn from what happened to Skyler to trust their instincts and not take no for an answer when something doesn’t feel right.

“Stay very close to your kids and make sure you check your neighbors,” he said. “If you have any suspicion of strange things going on in your neighborhood or anything, you’ve got to jump on it. Don’t hesitate to check it out. Call the police have them check it out. It could be nothing or it could be something really big."

That’s why we can't understand how (Troutman) wasn’t checked.

He said he wants to see justice for his granddaughter and his daughter who is grieving the death of Skyler. He wants Troutman, who he said came in and ate dinner after killing his granddaughter, to be convicted of the charges against him and get the death penalty.

“Skyler should still be alive,” he said.

Gebhard’s brother Jim said “You see this on the news all the time and you feel for the victim’s parents.

“You don’t think it will happen to you until it does,” he added. “A 9-year-old innocent child, her life was just starting, and now my brother doesn’t have his only grandchild.”

Steven Gebhard said he appreciates all the support from those in the community who have reached out to his family, especially to a motorcycle group that has offered their support.

Another person who has offered support is a friend of the family who has organized a yard sale in the 1000 block of South Street in Pottstown from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Sunday.

Anyone who has some items they could donate to be sold at the yard sale, as well as anyone who wishes to donate baked goods to be sold during the sale may do so. Money raised from the sale of those items, as well as any donations collected will help pay for Skyler’s funeral expenses, her family said.