UPDATE: THE victim has been identified as an 11-year-old girl.
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A 29-year-old Mildura man is under police guard at Wangaratta Hospital and several other people are assisting police.
Police have labelled the man a person of interest.
EARLIER: A WANGARATTA woman has described hearing “terrible and terrifying” screams before emergency services rushed to a suspicious death in the city.
Homicide squad detectives were called to an Inchbold Street house on Sunday after the discovery of a body.
Police did not want to give details on the age or gender of the victim as relatives were still being informed, but it’s believed a primary school aged girl died.
Detective Sergeant Paul Tremain said the death appeared to have occurred sometime between 1.30am and 11am on Sunday.
A woman who arrived at the scene several hours after the death broke down in the street after being told of the incident.
Jenelle Robinson, who lives across the road from the home, said she was concerned about what had occurred.
She had heard few details of the incident but said she hoped the girl who lived there was OK.
“(She) plays with my little boys all the time,” Ms Robinson said.
“I heard a terrible, terrifying scream, like someone wailing.
“It’s quite concerning.
“My two young boys have been out for the day, thank goodness.”
Ms Robinson said the girl and her mother lived at the home, and the mother’s boyfriend often visited.
Next door neighbour Dirk Todd said there had been a party at the home on Saturday night, which was not unusual.
“We didn’t really take much notice,” he said.
“There are parties there probably every second weekend.
“It’s a bit too close.
“It's not a nice thing.”
Mr Todd said the residents had lived in the home for two or three years.
He said the party held at the home on Saturday night had been “nothing out of the ordinary", and had ended about 2am.
Clinton Corker, who lives nearby, said he often saw the girl playing with a dog at the front of the home.
Detective Sergeant Tremain said no-one had been arrested.
“We always look for the community to help us with these matters,” he said.
“We are treating it as suspicious.
“If anyone has any information, either background information, or directly saw or heard anything on Saturday night, we’d be asking them to come forward with that information.”
