Man named person of interest, house searched in case of Fla. girl whose body found in landfill

Man named person of interest in Fla. girl’s death

ORANGE PARK, Fla. — Authorities have arrested a man they are calling a person of interest in the kidnapping and killing of a northeast Florida girl whose body was found in a landfill after she vanished on her way home from school.

Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said Jarred Mitchell Harrell, 24, who had lived in the girl’s neighborhood was arrested in Mississippi Thursday on 29 charges of possession of child pornography. Harrell has not been charged in the death of 7-year-old Somer Thompson. The arrest warrant said he was being held on $1 million bond. Officials at the Lauderdale County Detention Facility in Mississippi said they didn’t know if he has a lawyer.

Harrell, who was arrested in Meridian, Miss., had lived until recently in a home near Somer Thompson’s. Authorities searched that house Thursday. Deputies and an FBI forensics team were seen searching its front yard with rakes and shovels. The sheriff’s office restricted access to at least a block around the home, which is in a neighborhood filled with tidy, ranch-style houses.

Beseler, who announced the arrest during an evening news conference, said a vehicle had also been searched.

Somer vanished Oct. 19 as she was walking home from school, sparking a search that lasted for two days. Investigators sorted through more than 225 tons of garbage at a landfill some 50 miles away, across the state line in Georgia, before their worst fears were realized: Sticking out of the rubbish were a child’s lifeless legs.

Authorities have checked into thousands of tips in the case in the nearly four months since, but no one has been charged in the killing.

According to Harrell’s arrest report, in August he was kicked out of an Orange Park apartment after a roommate thought he had stolen a cell phone. Harrell left behind a computer, and the roommates said they searched it because they thought Harrell had been using it to look at child porn, the report says. The roommates said they did find porn involving young girls and turned the computer and discs over to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 10. The materials were sent to state investigators, who confirmed the contents.

It is unknown when Harrell moved into the Orange Park house that was searched Thursday, or when he left the neighborhood.

Dawn Nuss, 39, whose 8-year-old daughter Christina used to walk home with Somer, said her daughter told her that Somer used to stop at the house and pet a white dog. No one would ever come out of the house. Sometimes Somer would run ahead of the children walking home and hide in a ditch.

“I thought this was the safest place to allow my children to walk home,” she said.

Before the arrest was announced, the girl’s mother, Diena Thompson, said she didn’t want to get her hopes up that a break had been made in the case.

“I’m not speculating on anything. I don’t want to get my hopes up and I don’t want to get my hopes down,” she told The Florida Times-Union. “I’m going to put my faith in God.”

After the news conference, Thompson’s attorney, Michael R. Freed, released a statement that said Thompson and her family are “monitoring the latest developments in the investigation.” The statement said that she was not prepared to speak publicly about the case Thursday.

P.J. Simms, who has lived in the neighborhood 17 years, said she hopes authorities find what they are looking for.

“I just hope they find what they were looking for because it has been a long time coming. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened. It’s broken our hearts,” she said. “You used to see 40 to 50 kids out here every day, now there’s always somebody with them.”

Simms said she knew Somer because she used to baby-sit for the girl’s friend.

“She was a sweetheart, just very loving. She always wanted to be a part of everything. I hope and pray to God that this is it so we can finally let the kids play.”

Associated Press Writers Lisa Orkin Emmanuel and Suzette Laboy in Miami contributed to this report.