Police believe they have found missing 13-year-old girl's body

RUSKIN, Fla. -- Authorities said Saturday they were "almost positive" they have found the body of a missing 13-year-old girl after recovering a corpse from a pond that appeared to match her description down to her green arm cast.

Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said the body was found about a half-mile from Sarah Michelle Lunde's home. Gee said the cast was apparent when the body was found; Sarah had a bright green half-cast from a left wrist injury.

Authorities said they hoped to determine a positive identification and cause of death during an autopsy.

Sarah was last seen on April 9, shortly after she returned home from a church trip and around the time a registered sex offender unexpectedly paid a visit to her family's home. The teen was reported missing two days later when her mother learned she wasn't at a friend's home.

Gee has said that David Onstott, who once dated the girl's mother, has drawn investigators' attention, but he has not been named a suspect.

Onstott, 36, was being held after he was arrested Tuesday for allegedly threatening a man at a bar. He spent 5 1/2 years in prison after being convicted in 1995 of sexual battery with physical force.

Gee said he believes the body had been in the pond since shortly after Sarah disappeared. He said searchers would keep looking for articles of clothing Sarah might have been wearing.

Gee said investigators would also test beer bottles found by volunteers on Saturday for DNA evidence after Sarah's brother told detectives that Onstott took a half-empty bottle of Budweiser or Bud Light during his pre-dawn visit to the home.

The fathers of two previously slain girls have been involved in the search for Sarah: Mark Lunsford, whose 9-year-old daughter, Jessica, was found dead last month after disappearing from her Citrus County home, and Roy Brown, whose 7-year-old daughter, Amanda, was killed by a convicted child molester in 1997.

Roy Brown said he was concerned about Sarah's mother.

"I just wanted the mom to know I'm here. Because things change, once the media and the searchers go, once it's all over, she still needs people," he said.