The Latest: Man charged in connection with girl’s death

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Latest on the investigation into the disappearance and death of a 10-year-old girl in a remote Alaska town: (all times local):

3:50 p.m.

Charging documents say an Alaska man had the cellphone of missing 10-year-old girl, and GPS co-ordinates of where the phone had travelled led police to the girl’s body.

Peter Wilson of Kotzebue, Alaska, was formally charged Monday with making false statements as police tried to find Ashley Johnson-Barr, who had been missing since Sept. 6. Her body was found Friday.

Wilson will make his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Anchorage on Tuesday. Online court records do not list an attorney for Wilson.

An affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Michael Watson says it appears the girl was murdered, but her death remains under investigation.

The affidavit says Wilson lied to investigators when he denied knowing Ashley, even though they are related.

Residents in the remote Inupiat Eskimo town helped search for the girl in vain. The FBI sent 17 investigators to the community of 3,100 people on Alaska’s northwestern coast.

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1:45 p.m.

Counsellors were available Monday at a school attended by a 10-year-old girl whose body was found more than a week after she went missing in a remote Inupiat Eskimo town on Alaska’s northwestern coast.

Ashley Johnson-Barr was found dead Friday just east of Kotzebue. Authorities say 41-year-old Peter Wilson of Kotzebue is facing charges of making false statements to a federal agent investigating the girl’s death.

No charges had been filed in federal court as of early Monday afternoon.

Terri Walker, assistant superintendent of the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, says counsellors were on hand at the girl’s school for students who needed them.

The girl was last seen playing with friends at a local park Sept. 6. Her cellphone was later found a half mile from Rainbow Park.