TOMS RIVER, N.J. (1010 WINS/AP) -- A 24-year-old Toms River man has been charged with killing his 15-year-old cousin in the basement of her home Tuesday night, police said Wednesday.
1010 WINS AUDIO: Steve Sandberg reports
Garry Zigich Jr. is charged with murder in the strangulation death of Brittany Cena.
Police responded to the home after receiving a 911 call around 6 p.m. Tuesday reporting that the girl had been found on the floor of the basement, Police Chief Michael Mastronardy said.
Cena's body was discovered by her grandparents. It may have lain undiscovered in the basement for most of Tuesday, Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford said Wednesday.
An autopsy was to be conducted to try to determine whether a sexual assault took place, Ford said.
The girl's grandparents found her after a missing persons report was filed when she did not come home from school, Ford said. She did not go to school Tuesday, although her family assumed she was there.
Zigich lived at the house with Cena and her family for about a month, officials said.
Counselors are being made available to classmates at Toms River High School North.
Photo of Cena's home from 1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg
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