Genelle Renee Conway-Allen Found Murdered in California Park

A 13-year-old girl who disappeared from her school bus stop in Northern California has been murdered and her naked body discovered in park not far from her home.

Police released a chilling last photo of Genelle Conway-Allen, taken by a surveillance camera just minutes before she vanished on Thursday afternoon after getting off the bus on her way home from Green Valley Middle School, where she is a seventh grader.

A homeless man found her dead in the parking lot of a park in Fairfield, California, on Friday - about five miles from the spot where she was last seen.

Now, police in the quiet suburb between San Francisco and Sacramento are scrambling to find the person who murdered the troubled girl on her way home from school.

'She had a hard life, and this is how it ends. It's tragic,' her aunt Natalie Paasch, 20, told the San Francisco Chronicle. 'She was always the one looking out for her family, even when her family wasn't looking out for her.'

Relatives said Genelle was last seen getting off a bus from her middle school. The surveillance camera captured her walking with her backpack about five miles from the park where she was found dead.

Her foster parents reported her missing about 5.45pm on Thursday when she didn't come home from school.

Her body was found on Friday, but police did not publicly identify Genelle as the victim until Tuesday afternoon.

Police haven't said how she died, but have revealed that there was no obvious sign of trauma.

'She looked like a mannequin. It hurts my soul to think someone could do that to a little girl. I'm haunted by the image of her laying there without a stitch of clothing,' said Eric May, the man who found her body, according to the Chronicle.

May, 54, said he was questioned by police but later released.

The horrific crime has shocked the community and put neighbors on guard about a potential predator on the loose.

'That someone is capable of doing this to an innocent little girl breaks our hearts,' Victor Estrada, a minister who lives near the park, told the Chronicle. 'It's an act of pure evil. It's shocking for this community, and it's up to us as parents not to let this happen again and to find the person responsible.'

The park is a popular hangout for vagrants and the homeless, who spend their days milling around.

Many of the men said they had been interviewed by police. But, they said they were also horrified by the crime and were cooperating to report suspicious activity in the area.

Relatives say Genelle and her brother moved around for much of their childhoods and were in-and-out of foster care while their mother struggled with personal problems.

Genelle's father abandoned the family.

Despite her problems, friends say she remained a sweet girl who cared deeply about her friends and family.

Classmate John Paul Gibson told CBS Sacramento:'I give her a hug every day. It's hard because I don't know why they would do this to a nice person.'