The Jefferson Davis County Sheriff’s Department is investigatingthe possible sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl who died Mondayevening at the University of Mississippi Medical Center inJackson.

The girl, who lived in the Spring Hill community near Prentiss,arrived to the Jefferson Davis County Hospital with a bacterialinfection. During treatment, doctors found signs that indicated thegirl may have been molested.

The girl died after being transferred to UMC when her conditioncontinued to worsen.

Three other children from the same family have been hospitalizedwith a similar illness, Sheriff Henry McCullum said. Two of thechildren were hospitalized in Hattiesburg and the third inJackson.

McCullum told WLBT-Channel 3 in Jackson on Monday night that wasnot clear whether the sexual assault and infection wererelated.

The illness may have been contracted while the children wereswimming together in a river, the sheriff told the TV station, butthe cause of the illness is still under investigation. McCullumsaid investigators have not ruled out any potential source for theinfection.

McCullum said investigators also are pursuing all leads in theinvestigation into the possible molestation of the 10-year-oldgirl.

Investigators currently are interviewing members of the girl’sfamily, McCullum said. However, he said it is standard procedure insexual assault cases to interview family members first.

One member of the family is serving time in ParchmanPenitentiary on a sexual assault conviction. He is not due forrelease until 2011.