Searchers Seek Justice in Death of Missing Girl

With a 7-year-old girl confirmed dead after more than a year of hope for her safe return, volunteers and authorities are steeling their resolve and seeking justice for those responsible for the crime.

The death of Xiana Fairchild, missing since Dec. 9, 1999, was confirmed Saturday. Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department officials said DNA test results on a child’s skull found in the Santa Cruz Mountains confirmed that the bone fragments belonged to Xiana.

The medical examiner’s report indicated that the girl died of “homicidal violence.” Volunteers who searched tirelessly for her over the past year want someone held accountable.

“I really wanted her home alive,” said Deena May, a volunteer who spent nearly every Saturday searching for Xiana, a child she never knew. She said she wants answers about the death. “Until I know why, it’s not going to sink in. It still feels like she’s missing”

Vallejo police said the discovery creates no new suspects, but among those under suspicion in the girl’s disappearance are her mother, Antoinette Robinson, and Robinson’s boyfriend, Robert Turnbough.

Turnbough initially told police he had left the girl at a bus stop, but later changed his story to say she walked alone to catch the bus.