A worker at Sun Printing House in the 4800 block of Stenton Avenue discovered Vessels' body around 6:20 a.m. yesterday in a driveway that separates his company and the warehouse, which is owned by Pinn Memorial Baptist Church in Wynnefield. A gate that blocks the driveway from the street has been broken for some time.
Vessels, of the 1400 block of North 29th Street, was pronounced dead at the scene by arriving paramedics.
Ross said authorities were waiting for the Medical Examiner's Office to determine the exact nature of the teen's injuries.
Because investigators found personal belongings and money on the teen's body, Ross said, detectives do not suspect that robbery was a motive. Her body was fully clothed, and there was no outward indication of sexual assault. However, investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy on that matter, Ross said.
The body was found in a lonely spot that backs up to railroad tracks. Ross said investigators believe she "may have been dumped, but we don't know for sure."
Ross said Vessels had apparently been voluntarily committed to the youth home around February.
"She didn't do anything wrong. It was a family situation. In other words, the court system did not do it. That was done on the part of the family, so I guess there were some issues internally within her house," Ross said.
A person who answered the telephone yesterday at North Star Youth Services hung up when the caller identified himself as a reporter.
According to a spokesman for the Philadelphia School District, Vessels had gone through primary school in the district and in September enrolled in Benjamin Franklin High School. She withdrew in January.
Her admittance to the youth home was coordinated by the city Department of Human Services, Ross said. Detectives believe she ran away from the home, he said.
