Missing 6 year old found deceased in Mississippi

Tragedy has struck the small town of Saucier, Mississippi. Six-year-old Gracelyn Vick disappeared Sunday afternoon after going outside to play. Despite an urgent search effort involving family, volunteers,and law enforcement, her body was heartbreakingly discovered later that evening near her home.The investigation is ongoing, and authorities have not confirmed whether foul play was involved.

An autopsy is being, conducted to determine the cause of death.This devastating loss marks the third time Gracelyn’s mother, Vicky Lynn Hutcherson, has had to say goodbye to a child in recent years — an unimaginable pain, no parent should ever endure.

Gracelyn’s school and the community are rallying together to provide support, love, and prayers to the grieving family. Her memory lives on in the hearts of those who knew and loved her. Rest in peace, sweet Gracelyn.

Jackie Polk, the aunt of Gracelynn Vick — a 6-year-old girl whose tragic death last month rocked her family and their Mississippi community — remembers her niece as an adventurous girl who loved being outside, especially on the farm in Saucier, where she lived with her mother, Vicki Hutcherson.

“Gracelynn was an exuberant child,” Polk, 55, tells PEOPLE. “I mean, full of energy, full of sass.”

“She just loved the outdoors,” adds her aunt. “You could give her sticks, mud and rocks and a tree to climb. And she was super happy.”

At approximately 12 p.m. local time on April 13, Gracelynn went outside to play in the front yard and then disappeared, according to the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities spent hours searching for Gracelyn before she was found at approximately 6 p.m. and pronounced dead.

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Four days after Gracelynn’s death, Harrison County Sheriff Matt Haley said that her death was a “tragic accident” and that while playing, she crawled inside a nearby barrel, closed the lid from inside and got trapped.

“There were absolutely no signs of foul play,” Haley at the news conference. Although her cause of death has yet to be announced, the sheriff said that due to the heat index on the day of her death, Madelynn “would have experienced a combination of heat stress and limited oxygen supply inside the barrel.”

“This effect would be similar to that of a child being stuck in a hot car during the summer,” he added.

Harrison County Sheriff’s Office

Polk, who lives 20 miles away in Hancock County, recalls getting a phone call from Hutcherson, 46, after the mom noticed her daughter had disappeared. “She could not find her,” Polk says. “She had been calling out to her and she had been searching.”

When she arrived at her sister’s farm, police and emergency responders were already present. “There were so many people everywhere,” she says. “I mean, I counted at least five search dogs.”

Polk says a Mississippi task force investigating officer was the one to find Gracelynn. “Vicky was next to the investigator,” Polk says. “When Gracie was found, she screamed and I ran to her. This all happened within seconds.”

Aunt of Gracelynn Vick, Child Who Died in Barrel, Speak Out Gracelynn Vick vigil

A vigil was held in memory of Gracelynn Vick at Saucier Park in Mississippi on April 22, 2025.

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Gracelynn’s death is the latest tragedy for Hutcherson, who has lost three children in about four years.

In July 2021, her son Larry Hart died at the age of 17. “They said he had a missing enzyme in his liver,” Polk says, sharing that her nephew used a feeding tube and never talked or walked, but “could recognize voices because we could see that based on his behavior and reaction.”

“[Gracelynn] loved her brother,” Polk says. “She would get on the bed when she was even a tiny baby…She would rather climb than walk, and she would climb all over his hospital bed and lay up there and go to sleep.”

In March 2024, Gracelynn’s sister Victoria, 13, was killed in a crash. “They loved each other very much,” Polk says of the sisters’ relationship. “There are tons of videos with them on vacation.”

Six months later, Hutcherson’s fiancé was diagnosed with a rare cancer and died. “Our family has been through mortal hell,” says Polk. “We have seen more of our family and extended family over the last four years than we have our entire lives because we’ve had so many funerals.”

Aunt of Gracelynn Vick, Child Who Died in Barrel, Speak Out Gracelynn Vick vigil

Zach Coulter, a preacher of Persimmon Hill Baptist Church, speaks at the vigil for Gracelynn Vick at Saucier Park in Mississippi on April 22, 2025.

Gracelynn’s funeral was held on April 21 and a candlelight vigil took place at Saucier Park the following day. The event was mounted by local nonprofit group the Kind Hearts Organization, which raised money to pay for Gracelynn’s funeral and burial. Extra funds will be used to place a memory bench and a tree that blooms pink flowers at Saucier Elementary, Gracelynn’s school.

Dannette Necaise, the group’s founder, tells PEOPLE that the organization first learned what happened to Gracelynn through social media while the girl was still missing. “I just kept telling others in the group, ‘We need to do something. I don’t know what, but we need to do something,’ ” Necaise says.