FROME, Westmoreland — Family and friends wept openly yesterday when the body of a 14-year-old girl who went missing Monday morning was found stuffed in garbage bags under a bridge.

The dead girl was identified by relatives as Santoya Campbell of Shrewsbury, Westmoreland.

According to the grief-stricken relatives, Santoya, who was a grade eight student of Frome Technical High, did not reach school after leaving her home early in the morning.

The girl’s mother became worried when she did not return home after the usual time Monday evening, and became even more concerned when calls to her cellular phone went unanswered. She then filed a missing persons report with the Whithorn Police Station.

The child’s mother, the Jamaica Observer understands, visited her daughter’s school yesterday morning, only to learn that her daughter did not attend school on Monday.

The girl’s body, police said, was discovered by a farmer under a bridge in close proximity to the school about 2:30 yesterday afternoon. The body was said to be in two black garbage bags — one pulled over her feet and the other covering her head.

Word of the grisly find attracted a large crowd of curious onlookers to the murder scene, where crime scene detectives were gathering evidence.