Man tried to “lick his hands clean” after raping and killing 5-year-old niece

A man charged with the rape and murder of his 5-year-old niece began licking and wiping his hands in a police interrogation.

Alex Whipple, 21, was picked up by police hours after his niece, Elizabeth Shelly, went missing at 2 am on May 25 in Logan, Utah.

Whipple visited the girls home around that time and police considered him a suspect, so they brought him in for questioning.

He gave conflicting accounts of his whereabouts the previous night. At one point, officers left the interview room and said Whipple began licking his hands and attempting to wipe them clean, police said.

Whipple told investigators that alcohol makes him black out and he sometimes does “criminal things” when he blacks out, CNN reported.

He was arrested and held on warrant for probation violation. He originally did not tell police where the girls remains were, but provided a map day later of the wooded area near the girls home that police used to locate Elizabeths body.

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In exchange for the map, prosecutors took away the possibility of the death penalty.

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Authorities noted that Whipple had cuts on his hands and allegedly had blood on his jeans. When they found Elizabeths remains buried under a tree, they also discovered a blood-stained knife that was missing from her mothers kitchen and a bloodied hand print.

According to a probable cause statement: Approximately 50 yards due west, investigators located a teal skirt with white lace that appeared to have been hastily buried under some dirt and bark … the skirt has stains on it that are consistent with blood.