// a href = ./ //

A Lincoln County man has admitted to hitting a three year-old-girl girl while he was coming down from a heroin high, but denied allegations that he sexually assaulted her.

Daniel Kittle said he was irritated with his girlfriend's daughter and punched her twice in the head. KSDK reports that medical personnel examined the girl and found injuries to the girl's genitals in addition to bruising to the girl's face. Kittle denied having sexual contact with the girl.

He has been charged with both assault and molestation and is held on a $200,000 bond. 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Snow cover in western Missouri is pushing an unusually large number of snow geese into eastern Missouri near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

The Department of Conservation says a conservation area in Lincoln County north of St. Louis recorded 7,000 snow geese, with an estimated 15,000 birds in the surrounding area.

Snow geese spend the winter in Missouri and other southern areas of their range. They return north to the Arctic to nest.

The birds are common in marshes, rivers, lakes and crop fields. They move constantly to seek a place to feed.

The search for a missing Lincoln County woman has ended tragically.

Authorities say just before noon Sunday, searchers found the body of 48 year old Jennifer Bogert in a creek less than a mile from her Eolia home.

The Lincoln County Sheriff says Bogert appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Sheriff's deputies and volunteers had been searching for Bogert after she failed to show up for work Friday morning.