VBT Police report possible identification of teenager killed by train

On Monday afternoon, May 7, Van Buren Township Public Safety Director Gregory Laurain put out a call to the public for help in identifying the victim of a pedestrian-train fatality occurring at about 8 a.m. Monday.
By late Monday police had contact with the couple believed to be the victim’s parents, who said their daughter had an outfit of clothing like that police described.
Director Laurain said the family did not go to make the identification on Monday and early Tuesday police were urging the family to make the official identification, which they did on Tuesday.
Director Laurain said they believe the girl to be 13 years old, a resident of Van Buren Estates in VBT, and a student in the Lincoln Schools.
According to information from interviews, the death was an apparent suicide, Director Laurain said.
The location of the incident was on the railroad tracks between Martz and Bemis roads in Van Buren Township. These railroad tracks run along the backside of Van Buren Estates Manufactured Homes.
The victim was described as female in the age range of 13-16-years old, having sandy brown medium-length hair and wearing grey sweat pants, red zipper sweat jacket and grey t-shirt. No visible identifying marks or tattoos are located on the victim’s body. She was wearing a white ribbon around her right wrist.
After the incident, the train stopped and the crossings on Bemis, east of Rawsonville, and Rawsonville, south of Bemis, were blocked for about seven hours while the investigation continued.
This death was 12 days after a train killed a 15-year-old boy in the City of Belleville on the same track.