Salt Lake City girl found murdered in field after 'being lured from her house'

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Body of Kaley Vijil found with 'signs of trauma' in West Valley City
Girl's mother spoke to police in person at local convenience store around 1.30am after not seeing her missing daughter since midnight
Vijil was lured from the house by a a 15-year-old neighborhood boy who was not known to the family, according to authorities
Police pinged cell phone to find body in pasture, though device was gone when girl was found in field where grass had grown four feet high
Suspected 15-year-old taken into custody 1.30pm on Friday

By Christopher Brennan For Dailymail.com

Published: 10:03 EST, 17 July 2015 | Updated: 16:56 EST, 17 July 2015

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The body of a murdered 12-year-old girl in a Salt Lake City suburb was discovered early Friday morning at a horse pasture near her home.

Kayley Vijil, who was found less than half a mile from her home in West Valley City after her mother rushed to a local 7-Eleven around 1.30am to speak to police because she could not find her daughter.

West Valley City Police Chief Lee Russo said that the girl had not been contacted by her parents since midnight, when she was lured from her house by a 15-year-old boy from the neighborhood who did not know her or the family well.

Her body, which showed signs of trauma, was found at 3am less than four blocks away.

Police say they are treating the case as a murder and that the 15-year-old suspect was taken into custody around 1.30pm Friday. He will initially be charged with murder as a juvenile.

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The body of suburban Salt Lake City's Kaley Vijil, 12, was found in an overgrown horse pasture near her home at 3am Friday morning

The girl was said to be lured out of her house by someone the family did not know around midnight. Above, police officers search the pasture for additional evidence on Friday

Vijil was not considered a run away and was believed to have left her house willingly after being lured outside by the teenage neighborhood boy

The girl was believed to have left her house willingly after being lured by the teenage boy, who had reportedly recently gotten out of juvenile detention and had been asking multiple neighborhood girls to play.

Police said that Kaley and the suspect had not been texting, and that the communication between them occurred at the door of her home.

The suspect had allegedly asked another neighborhood girl recently to come look at his fort in an abandoned house.

Vijil's parents reportedly knew she was leaving the house and but soon went out looking for her before finally telling police in person at their local convenience store,The Deseret News reported.

Authorities believe that the girl, whose family had recently moved to the area, was killed near the location she was found.

The pasture where she was discovered was overgrown, with grass growing as high as four feet tall, according to police.

Police were able to find the girl behind a row of homes by tracking her cell phone, though the device was not found on the body.

Chief Russo told reporters Friday afternoon that the case was one where 'a good natured child was fooled and unfortunately, made a mistake that she paid the ultimate price for, according to Fox 13.

Vijil, who was last seen at midnight was discovered behind a row of houses (pictured) in West Valley City, Utah, was found after police tracked her cell phone. Above, police cordon off one of the homes

Police have obtained a warrant to search one of the homes near the field and had 15-year-old suspect in custody as of Friday afternoon

Body of 12-year-old Utah girl found less than a mile from home

He said that he could not comment on whether sexual abuse was involved in the attack.

Authorities had earlier in the day obtained a search warrant for a house near the pasture, which was connected to the 15-year-old.

Police said that they found a 'depression in vegetation' and 'indication of crime' a short distance from the body.

Evidence at the scene also was said to link the suspect to the crime.

West Valley City police spokesman Roxeanne Vainuku said that she could not elaborate on what indicated a crime at the scene when asked by Daily Mail Online.

No one else is currently suspected in the death.

Authorities have not yet released a cause of death in the case and would not comment in specifics on the trauma Vijil suffered.

Police said that there was no information to suggest stabbing or gunshot wounds.