Richard Christie, of Des Moines, told KWWL-TV in Waterloo and The Gazette in Cedar Rapids that he learned about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday that his granddaughter's body had been found.

"She was murdered and her body was put in the river," Christie told The Gazette. "She was not drowned."

He said he was told that one person was being held in custody.

In Floyd County, authorities declined to release information regarding the case, but scheduled a news conference for July 7.

Bill Basler, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent in charge; Scott Brown, assistant attorney general for Iowa; and Floyd County Attorney Marilyn Dettmer also left the courthouse without comment.

News crews from throughout Iowa were on the scene at the courthouse.

The news conference will be in the third-floor courtroom of the courthouse.

Earlier Wednesday, Evelyn's parents walked up and down the rows of tables at the Floyd Community Center, thanking volunteers who had been searching for their daughter.

Noel Miller and Andy Christie shook hands, hugged and talked to the people who had been out in the hot July sun looking for their Evelyn.

Many of the people wiped tears after talking to the parents of the little girl.

Evelyn Celeste Miller reportedly was last seen at about 2 a.m. Friday in the living room of her mother's apartment, Floyd County Sheriff Rick Lynch said.

When Noel Miller returned from work at 6:20 a.m., Evelyn's siblings, Gabriel, 2, and Damian, 1, and Miller's fiance, Casey Frederiksen, were sleeping, but Evelyn was missing.

Richard Eisenmenger of Charles City helped in the search all six days. He was one of the people Christie shook hands with Wednesday afternoon.

He said little, but looked the father in the eye and nodded.

John Podgorniak of Northwood was taking a break when the parents entered the community center.

Podgorniak had been out with a morning crew, spending four hours while covering a two-mile area. He planned to go out with a second crew later in the day.

"Most of the area was thick," he said. "Really tall grass. The rest was knee and waist high."

Little news came out of a mid-afternoon news conference. -AP