The Republic | azcentral.com

The caller who reported 8-year-old Isabella Grogan-Cannella missing early in the morning of Sept. 2 was calm and composed during his 8-minute conversation with a Bullhead City dispatch operator.

He provided a description of the girl's clothes and a nearby park with access to a river where he feared she might have strayed, according to a recording of the 911 call released Tuesday.

Search teams on Sept. 3 discovered Isabella's body in a shallow grave not far from the Bullhead City home she shared with her family and arrested Justin Rector, a 26-year-old friend of the family, on suspicion of kidnapping and first-degree murder.

The 911 caller, who identifies himself as Isabella's stepfather, makes no mention of Rector when he is speaking with an emergency operator at about 1:15 a.m. on Sept. 2. He repeatedly says that the girl was at home with her sister and grandmother while other members of the family went shopping at Walmart early that morning, just after midnight.

Investigators first learned of Rector's potential role in Isabella's disappearance and murder from her 10-year-old sister, according to court documents.

"She stayed at home with her sister and her mom, her sister and my mom, getting ready for bed," he said. "When we got back, she was nowhere to be found."

Investigators first learned of Rector's potential role in Isabella's disappearance and murder while questioning her 10-year-old sister, according to court documents.

The 10-year-old, whose name is redacted throughout the report, told investigators that she and Isabella were at their mother's home playing hide-and-seek with Rector. The older girl said that she went to the restroom at some point and that Rector and Isabella were gone by the time she returned, according to court records.

Police said Isabella's mother had been out with friends and separately contacted police early Tuesday morning after she could not find Isabella, according to court documents.

Investigators began looking for Rector that morning and found him near a highway in Bullhead City a short while later at about 3 a.m. on Sept. 2, according to court records.

Police believe that Rector stole a pair of shoes and other clothes from the Walmart and that Rector admitted hiding his old belongings in the store, according to a police report.