BETHEL, Vt. — The body of a missing 12-year-old Vermont girl was found Wednesday buried near her uncle’s home, hours after documents surfaced that accused the man of planning to initiate her into a child sex ring.
Brooke Bennett’s body was found about a mile from her uncle’s house, said State Police Director James Baker. Police who had been searching the uncle’s property noticed the ground was disturbed and found her body buried there.
The girl’s uncle, Michael Jacques, who has been in custody since Sunday on sexual assault charges involving another underage girl, is to be charged in federal court with kidnapping, police Sgt. Tara Thomas said.
Brooke was last seen alive with Jacques at a convenience store a week ago.
Earlier Wednesday, in an affidavit unsealed in U.S. District Court in Burlington, the FBI said an unidentified 14-year- old girl told investigators she was present on June 25 when Jacques, 42, tricked Brooke into thinking she was going to a party and took her to his home to be initiated into a sex ring.
The girl said she was led to believe that the 12-year-old “would have sex with adult males” during the initiation.
The teenager said she and Brooke watched television for a while before Jacques told her to leave and took his niece upstairs. The witness said she left the house and didn’t see Brooke again.
The 14-year-old said she herself had been having sex with Jacques since she was 9, as part of the sex ring.
Brooke’s former stepfather, Raymond Gagnon, appeared in federal court Wednesday on an obstruction-of-justice charge. According to the affidavit, he told police he accessed his former stepdaughter’s My Space page after getting login information from Jacques. Police said they have evidence that postings to the account were altered to make it appear that the 12-year-old had discussed a secret rendezvous shortly before she disappeared.
