Body found in area searched by FBI for abducted 13-year-old North Carolina girl

ROBESON COUNTY, N.C. — A body was found Tuesday in Robeson County, North Carolina, off a road where the FBI had requested video in the search for an abducted girl.

Hania Aguilar, 13, was kidnapped outside her home in Lumberton earlier this month as she was getting ready to go to school.

Federal agents and Lumberton police detectives found the body in an area off Wire Grass Road late Tuesday afternoon.

The body has not been positively identified but investigators with the FBI, Lumberton police, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Robeson County Sheriff's Office were following leads related to the search for Aguilar when the discovery was made, the FBI said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, investigators have notified Hania's family, but again, no confirmation has been made of the identity of the body found,” the FBI said in a tweet.

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Family members said they last saw the eighth-grader the morning of Nov. 5 when she went outside to start a relative's vehicle to prepare to leave for the bus stop. Police said a man then forced the teenager into an SUV and drove off.

Authorities said the SUV was later found in Lumberton several miles from the mobile home park where Aguilar lived.

Investigators had been collecting and analyzing surveillance video since Aguilar was taken from her home and the FBI has followed up on more than 50 leads in the girl's abduction.

Cox Media Group