Breeann Rodriguez's Accused Killer Said It Seemed to Take an Hour for Her to Die

Aug. 15, 2011 -- The suspect charged in the death of Breeann Rodriguez told police that "it felt like it took an hour" for the 3-year-old girl to die as he held a plastic bag over her head .

Shawn Morgan, 43, of Senath, Mo. has been charged with first degree murder in the case of little Breeann.

Morgan, the father of three, worked in a steel factory in nearby Blytheville, Ark.

Breeann was last seen on Aug. 6, riding her pink bicycle with her brother outside her home in Senath. Her disappearance shocked the hamlet of 1,600 people.

They were even more stunned when police arrested Breeann's neighbor and charged him with murder.

Breeann Rodriguez Murder Suspect Allegedly Confessed to Using Plastic Bag

The details of the murder came out today when police released a probable cause affidavit. In it, officials stated that Morgan told them that he found Breeann standing on the ladder of his backyard swimming pool. He said he grabbed the girl and took her inside his house where he suffocated her with a plastic trash bag, the affidavit states. Morgan told investigators that "it felt like it took an hour for the girl to die," according to the affidavit.

Morgan allegedly stuffed Breeann's body in the garbage bag and drove to floodway ditches and threw the bag over the railing.

He then returned home where he dismantled the girl's pink bicycle in the floodway ditches.

"Morgan is charged with knowingly causing the death of Breeann Rodriguez by suffocating her," said Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Sokolof in a statement to ABC News.

"It is alleged that he did so by use of a dangerous instrument, a plastic garbage bag. He is also charged with tempering with physical evidence by concealing her bicycle in the investigation of her death."