A body found Wednesday is believed to be that of a missing 12-year-old whose uncle allegedly planned to force her into a sex ring, Vermont State Police said.

Col. James Baker said Brooke Bennett's body was found in Randolph, where the uncle lives, about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday.

She was last seen alive with the uncle, Michael Jacques, 42, at a convenience store a week ago.

"The painful discovery of Brooke's body today is tragic and heartbreaking," the state police director said at a news conference.

He called the death "clearly suspicious" but declined to give details before a news conference scheduled for Thursday morning.

Sex ring initiation alleged

But in an affidavit unsealed earlier in U.S. District Court, an unidentified teenager said she was present on June 25 when Jacques tricked Brooke into thinking she was going to a party and took her too his Randolph home to be initiated into a sex ring.

Jacques was in jail awaiting trial on sex charges unrelated to the disappearance of Brooke Wednesday. Vermont state police say he will be charged with kidnapping in connection to Brooke's disappearance.

According to the affidavit, the unnamed teen, also a relative of Jacques, told federal agents that she herself had been having sex with Jacques since she was 9, in a sex ring called Breckinridge.

The 14-year-old girl told authorities she helped Jacques, the missing girl's uncle, take the 12-year-old to Jacques' Randolph home on June 25 to be initiated into the ring. Brooke was missing ever since. The girl said she understood that as part of the initiation, Brooke "would have sex with adult males," according to the affidavit.

The girl said she and Brooke watched television for a while before Jacques told her to leave and took the Brooke upstairs. The witness said she left the house with her boyfriend and did not see the girl again.

MySpace page used in cover-up

Brooke's former stepfather, Raymond Gagnon, appeared in federal court Wednesday on an obstruction of justice charge in the case. He was denied bail and was held pending another hearing on Monday.

Police say Gagnon, 40, lives in Texas but often visited Vermont. According to the affidavit, he told police he accessed Brooke's MySpace page from a laptop computer at his home in San Antonio after getting login information from Jacques.

Police said they have evidence that postings to the account were altered to make it appear that Brooke had discussed a secret rendezvous with someone identified as "Skittlemeup" shortly before she disappeared.

Gagnon also told police he had downloaded child pornography onto the laptop, according to the affidavit.

Authorities said Gagnon was on a regular visit to Vermont from Texas when he was arrested Monday.

In Randolph before the announcement, Brooke's friends and family put up signs saying they missed her and were praying for her safe return. She lived in Braintree, a small town close to Randolph.

"To the community, thank you so much for all your support and help, and I hope I can keep continuing to get that," said Brooke's mother, Cassandra Gagnon. She wore a photo pin of her daughter on her T-shirt.

She said she was "very surprised" by her ex-husband's alleged involvement.

'Program for sex' allegation

On Monday, Jacques was arraigned on an aggravated sexual assault charge involving a different girl, who is quoted in court papers as saying Jacques told her he would be her trainer in a "program for sex." It was not immediately clear if that girl was the same one saying she helped Jacques.

The girl said she had met three men in the program, including Jacques, and that she was told two other girls also were in the program. "The first who does it lives and the second gets her throat cut," she told police, according to an affidavit filed in court Monday.

Jacques dropped Brooke off at a convenience store on June 25, and surveillance video shows they left in separate directions. She had told family members she was going to meet a friend and visit a hospitalized relative of the friend, but police believe that was a lie.

In the sex assault case, Jacques pleaded not guilty and was being held in lieu of $250,000 bail. His attorney called the evidence in the case "very sparse."

Jacques has 1993 convictions for kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault. Prosecutors argued against bail, saying he posed a threat to the accuser and had violated probation.

James Bennett, Brooke's father, said Gagnon had been married to Brooke's mother, Cassandra Gagnon. He said they separated about four years ago and may have divorced.

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