Kentucky Town 'Forever Changed' By Cheerleader's Slaying At Pee Wee Football Game

The body of Gabriella "Gabby" Doolin, 7, was found 200 yards from Saturday's game.

The discovery of the body of Gabriella "Gabby" Doolin, a 7-year-old pee wee football cheerleader, in a creek bed during Saturday's football game has shaken a small town in Kentucky to its core.

The state medical examiner has ruled Gabby's death homicide. The cause hasn't been released, Trooper B.J. Eaton of the Kentucky State Police told The Huffington Post on Monday.

"It's safe to say that Allen County, Kentucky, will forever be changed as of Saturday evening," Eaton said. He added that "every detective" and available resource was devoted to the investigation.

Gabby disappeared at a youth football game in Scottsville, about 60 miles northeast of Nashville, Tennessee. Her brother was playing in the game as a member of the Cowboys team. Gabby was a member of the cheerleading team, but it was the all-star game and her squad wasn't cheering.

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"The teams had already dismissed their cheerleaders because they had switched over to the all-stars team," Patricia Anne Hawkes, whose 8-year-old daughter is a cheerleader in a neighboring town, told HuffPost.

"They were having a tournament -- it was the playoffs -- and [many] surrounding areas … had their teams there," Hawkes continued. "It was an all-day event."

Gabby was there one minute and gone the next, police said.

"Children were playing, people were watching the game and they discovered she was missing -- and a 911 call was made immediately," Eaton said.

Authorities conducted an extensive search of the area. Within 30 minutes, they located Gabby's lifeless body in a creek bed behind the Allen County-Scottsville High School, roughly 200 yards from the football field, police said.

According to Eaton, evidence suggests the child was killed in the same area where her body was recovered. He said police have identified neither a motive nor a suspect.

"There are cameras on the outside of the school, and all that is being reviewed," Eaton said.

Residents were reeling as news of the child's death spread.

"To think something like this happened and there [were] thousands of people around—how did [no one] see anything?" Hawkes asked. "This is small-town America. People sleep with their doors unlocked and don't lock their cars. You trust your neighbor to pick your kids up from school if you're having a bad day. That's the type of people we are."

Salliann Elizabeth Stinson, who attended the game with her 1- and 2-year-old children, said the community is outraged.

"Justice will be served on [the] beast that destroyed this family and our town," Stinson told HuffPost. "The thought that it could have easily have been [my children] has rattled me to the core."

Hawkes, who has helped establish a fundraising group to cover Gabby's burial expenses, attended a candlelight vigil Sunday with an estimated 900 people.

"There was not a dry eye out there," Hawkes said. "The … entire block was just covered shoulder-to-shoulder with people."

Shane Britt, chaplain of the Allen County Sheriff's Office, spoke at the vigil, according to Newschannel5.com.

"We're praying for you," Britt said of Gabby's family. "We're crying with you. We're mourning with you. We stand with you. And we're also praying that soon, the people -- the individual that did this -- will be brought to justice."

Gabby's father, Brian Doolin, took to social media to ask for prayers for his family.

"We've never been this empty," Doolin wrote on Facebook. "I'd give anything to hold my baby girl just one more time. I love her with all my heart … I would [have] gladly traded places with my baby girl. I don't know why anyone would do this to a baby or anyone for that matter."

A Gofundme account has been set up to help the family with funeral expenses. As of Monday evening, nearly $26,000 had been raised.

"My greatest hope is that the Doolins find some peace in the days, weeks, and months to come, especially with the holidays," Stinson told HuffPost. "We are all devastated … This tragedy has completly changed Allen County. As we rally together for this family, our only prayer is that this monster be taken away forever."

Anyone with information on Gabby Doolin's killing is asked to contact the Kentucky State Police at 270-782-2010.

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