Zion, Ill. ? Two second-grade girls who disappeared while riding bikes together were found dead Monday, both stabbed multiple times and left to die off a bicycle path in a park, authorities said.

A resident walking through a wooded nature area in the park discovered the bodies of best friends Laura Hobbs, 8, and Krystal Tobias, 9, at dawn.

“This is a heinous crime. It was a crime not only against those kids but against all of us,” Police Chief Doug Malcolm said.

The parents of one of the girls had reported her missing about 8:50 p.m. Sunday, about two hours after she was expected home, Malcolm said. The parents of the other girl called shortly afterward, and authorities with rescue dogs began searching.

Malcolm said no weapons were found and there was no evidence of sexual assault. A girl’s bicycle was found nearby. He said police had not identified any suspects and that there were “no solid leads that we’re focusing on.”

The killings stunned this town about 45 miles north of Chicago, prompting police and school officials to escort children directly onto buses at the end of the school day. Dozens of anxious parents waited until their children emerged from the front doors of the school, then put their arms around their kids or clutched their hands as they walked to their cars.

Constance Collins, superintendent of the Zion Elementary School District 6, said the girls were in the same second-grade class at Beulah Park Elementary School.

“They were best friends,” said Laura Unrein, who lives near the park. “When one left, the other left. They were always together.”

School was in session Monday, and social workers and a crisis intervention team were called in to help the students.

Zion, along Lake Michigan, was founded in 1901 by a religious faith healer as a utopian community. It has about 22,000 residents but retains a quiet, at times rural, feel despite being on the edge of both the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas.

Zion, Ill., police chief Doug Malcolm, center, holds a photo of 9-year-old Krystal Tobias as he talks with reporters after a news conference Monday. According to authorities, Krystal and her friend Laura Hobbs, 8, were found dead early Monday morning in a heavily wooded area near where they lived.