By Steve Neavling

Motor City Muckraker

Firefighters this morning found two bodies believed to be connected to an Amber Alert issued hours earlier for a missing 4-year-old girl.

Police said the bodies of a small child and a woman, possible the girl’s mother, were found in a burning house at Lakeview Street and Forrest Avenue.

Firefighters were called to a house fire at 4:14 a.m. and found the bodies when searching the house.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said the bodies may be of 4-year-old Savannah Walker and her mother, 39-year-old Heidi Walker.

An Amber Alert was issued several hours earlier for Savannah, who was believed to have been kidnapped by Marcus Hightower, 33, who spent nearly seven year in prison for assault with intent to do great bodily harm. He was released from prison in September 2014.

Craig called Hightower a “person of interet” in the murders. Police believe he had been in a relationship with Savannah’ mother.

Police are still searching for Hightower, who may have been driving a 2004 black four-door Ford Explorer with the license plate DFJ 5377.