A man remains under police guard in hospital following the death of an 11-year-old girl in a northeast Victorian town.
The man, a 29-year-old from Mildura, was arrested walking barefoot along the Hume Freeway around 6.30am on Sunday, up to 10km from the house in Inchbold Street, Wangaratta, where the girl's body was found by paramedics about 11am.
Police say the man is unfit to be interviewed.
They are interviewing several other people over the girl's death, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.
One neighbour said she heard screaming coming from the house on Sunday.
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"I heard a terrible, terrifying scream, like someone wailing," neighbour Jenelle Robinson told The Border Mail newspaper.
Next-door neighbour Dirk Todd told the newspaper there had been a party at the house on Saturday night, finishing up around 2am.
Friends and relatives of the little girl, in Year 5 at the local primary school, say they are devastated.
"Absolutely heartbroken. Hug your children. Protect them. Try to protect them. Do everything you can to keep them safe," family friend Erin Allen told reporters at the scene.
Investigators want to speak to any witnesses who saw or offered a lift to the 29-year-old man anywhere between Inchbold Street and the Hume Freeway, between Glenrowan Road and Snow Road, between 4.30am and 6.30am on Sunday.
He had no shoes but was wearing a singlet top and cargo shorts.
