Metal Detectors, City Crews Helping Investigation of 12-Year-Old's Murder

Gaithersburg Public Works crews are assisting police in the investigation of 12-year-old Jessica Nguyen's murder, officials confirm.

Police are also using metal detectors to search the grassy, wooded area behind the house in the 700 block of Raven Avenue where the 6th grade honor roll student at Gaithersburg Middle School .

County Police asked City Public Works crews to help, the City's Director of Neighborhood Services Kevin Roman confirmed.

It was not immediately clear what they were asked to do.

A City-owned truck was parked in a driveway this afternoon blocking access to the rear of the row of town-homes where police were continuing their investigation.

Officer Amy Daum, a spokeswoman for the County Police, said she didn't know how the crews were helping.

As for what the metal detectors were being used for, she said police were "continuing to collect evidence."

Police are releasing few details about the murder, a fact which several media outlets are reporting has neighbors worried. They don't know if there is a killer on the loose.

Daum could offer little calm their fears.

"This is still a very active investigation and we're not limiting it in any way," she said. Police have maintained that they are interviewing family members and friends.

Daum was able to clarify that the family has not moved back into the house, which police are still considering a crime scene—information that WUSA9 incorrectly reported.

Shortly after 7:30 pm on May 31, police were called to the house for the report of a pediatric injury. When they arrived, they found Nguyen dead, with trauma to her upper body.

An autopsy by the State Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore determined that she had been murdered.

Few details are known about the family, but online court records show the home is in the midst of foreclosure proceedings.