Man Pleads Guilty in Case of Florida Girl Found Dead in Georgia Landfill

Credit: Associated Press

By: Associated Press | WSAV
Published: February 03, 2012

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GREEN COVE SPRINGS, FL --

A 26-year-old man has pleaded guilty in the abduction and killing a 7-year-old Florida girl who was found in a Georgia landfill in 2009.

Jarred Harrell pleaded guilty Friday in the death of Somer Thompson and was sentenced to life in prison.

Somer disappeared in October 2009 while walking home from school. Her body was found in a Georgia landfill two days later, and police said she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

Harrell lived on the girl's route home. He was arrested in Mississippi four months after Somer's death on unrelated child pornography charges. Prosecutors say DNA linked him to Somer's killing.