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Jersey Bridgeman: Mystery Over Girl's Death

Jersey Bridgeman: Mystery Over Girl's Death

Detectives in Arkansas are puzzled by the mysterious death of a six-year-old girl whose father and stepmother were jailed last year for chaining her to a dresser.

Jersey Bridgeman's body was found on Tuesday in an abandoned house not far from where she lived with her biological mother, DesaRae Bridgeman, in Bentonville, about 215 miles northwest of Little Rock.

Bentonville Police have no suspects but detectives and FBI agents are interviewing several known sex offenders in the area.

"Obviously anyone close to this girl is someone we're going to look at now," Captain Justin Thompson told FoxNews.com on Friday.

Jersey's father, David Bridgeman, and stepmother, Jana Bridgeman, are both serving long prison terms for abusing her last year.

Both pleaded guilty in June 2011. They were given 18-year and 12-year prison sentences respectively.

DesaRae Bridgeman says she last saw her daughter when she put her to bed at around midnight on Monday.

She reported the girl missing at around 6.30am the next day. There was no sign of forced entry at the family home.

Police soon found her inside the vacant house about 200ft away.

They have already established what caused Jersey's death, but police will only say for the moment that the case is being investigated as a homicide.

It is unclear who else lived with the girl's mother, but on her Facebook page DesaRae Bridgeman says she is in a relationship with a man named Brandon Thomas.