Mom of Fla. girl found dead in landfill trying not to get hopes up about ‘person of interest’

Mom of slain Fla. girl tries not to get hopes up

ORANGE PARK, Fla. — The mother of a slain 7-year-old who disappeared while walking home from school is trying not to get her hopes up after police said a man arrested on child pornography charges is a person of interest in the case, her attorney said Friday.

Diena Thompson has been waiting for closure since daughter Somer vanished in October. Her body was found two days later in a Georgia landfill.

Late Thursday, Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler announced that 24-year-old Jarred Mitchell Harrell, who had lived in their neighborhood, is a person of interest in the case. He was being held on $1 million bond after being arrested in Mississippi on 29 charges of possession of child pornography, according to a warrant.

He has not been charged in Somer’s death, and Diena Thompson’s attorney, Michael Freed, said his client is trying not to get her hopes up about the latest development.

“This has been an emotional roller coaster for her,” Freed said. “We want to make sure the ride comes to an end before she reacts.”

Beseler released a statement that provided few details about the case and did not indicate what evidence makes Harrell a person of interest.

Officials at the Lauderdale County Detention Facility in Mississippi said they didn’t know if he has a lawyer.

According to an arrest report, he was kicked out of an Orange Park apartment in August because a roommate thought he had stolen a cell phone. Then his roommates searched his computer because they thought he had been using it to look at child porn. They found porn involving young girls and turned the computer and discs over to the Jacksonville sheriff’s office on Aug. 10, according to the report. The materials were sent to state investigators, who confirmed the contents.

Harrell later moved into another house in Orange Park that authorities searched Thursday. It wasn’t clear when he moved from there to Meridian, Miss., where he was arrested.

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.

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.

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 authorities searched and pet a white dog. No one would ever come out. 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,” Nuss said.

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