Exclusive: Diena Thompson, Mother of Murdered Somer Thompson, Recalls Daughter

Feb. 12, 2010 — -- Diena Thompson, mother of murdered 7-year-old Somer Thompson, said her little girl "loved to dance."

"She was so clutzy," Thompson tells ABC News Chief Law and Justice Correspondent Chris Cuomo, co-anchor of "20/20," in an exclusive interview airing tonight on "Nightline."

"I mean, she could not walk and chew bubble gum at the same time," Thompson said. "But she loved to dance. She wanted to be a ballerina."

The emotional interview took place just days before police named a former neighbor of the Thompsons as a person of interest in the girl's death on Thursday. Jarred Harrell, 24, was arrested on 29 unrelated charges of possession of child pornography.

"We are also naming Harrell a person of interest in connection with the abduction and murder of Somer Thompson," Florida's Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said Thursday.

Harrell lived on the street near where Somer was last seen Oct. 19, 2009. He was under surveillance for some time, police said.

Neighbors described Harrell as antisocial and withdrawn, and said they saw Somer occasionally stop to pet a little white dog near his former home.

After his arrest Thursday, authorities searched the new home of Harrell's family, particularly a shed.

The term "person of interest" has no legal ramifications and police have not named Harrell as a suspect. The $1 million bond set for Harrell likely was because of the number of counts filed.

The day Somer disappeared, she was walking to her Jacksonville, Fla., home from school with her older sister Abby and twin brother Samuel. She was last seen in front of a vacant house on a block she walked every day.

Despite a statewide search, Diena Thompson knew that day that she would never see her daughter again.

"I can't explain it, but I just knew that she was gone," she said.

Investigators sorted through more than 225 tons of garbage until they found Somers' lifeless body at a landfill some 50 miles away across the state line in Georgia.

Thompson barely remembers the call from police with the news.

"All I remember is losing it -- I mean, literally losing it, screaming and later on, neighbors telling me they could hear me, the shrills across the street," she said. "I think they didn't say on the news until the next day, that they confirmed it to the public. But, of course, being the mother, they called and told me."

Despite following up on thousands of leads since Somer's disappearance, police have yet to name a suspect in the case.

Thompson, however, is determined to find her daughter's killer and said she can't wait to meet that person face to face.

"I feel like it'll give me some more closure because I still blame myself, you know? What if I did this?" she said. "And instead of looking in the mirror and blaming myself, I'm going to have a picture of someone else to blame. I want to see this person's face. I can't wait to meet him face to face."

Thompson said she wants to know everything about how her daughter died.

"I was there when she was born and I should know how she left," she said. "I've built up so many scenarios in my head, that I honestly don't feel like anything they could tell me could be any worse than what I've already made up in my head."

Thompson said she wants her daughter's killer "to die."

"I want them to get the death penalty," she said. "So in that sense I care, but other than that I don't, you know, I don't care."

Click here to read a transcript of the interview.

Person of Interest Arrested on Child Porn Charges

Harrell was arrested "without incident" on 29 unrelated counts of possession of child pornography in Meridian, Miss., police said.

According to arresting documents, a cluster of child pornography images and video was found on several CDs and on a computer Harrell used when he lived with roommates at a home in Orange Park, Fla., in August. The computer, which had a file called "Toddler Insertion," held "a large amount of child erotica and also child pornography," according to the documents.

The roommates discovered the files and turned over the computer to the Jacksonville sheriff's office Aug. 10, 2009, two months before Thompson disappeared.

Diena Thompson: Killer Would Be 'Lucky' to Be Caught by Cops

In early November, Thompson told "Good Morning America" her daughter's killer would be "lucky" if the cops caught him or her before she did.

"I can't imagine them not catching him," Thompson said at the time. "I feel like there's a piece of broken glass in front of me, and I've got all the pieces to the broken glass except for this one, huge piece -- and that's to catch the monster who did this."

Thompson described Somer as a beautiful 7-year-old who always wanted to help and make people feel better.

"She just always wanted everybody to be happy with her," she said. "So sweet. Hugged everybody."

Somer routinely hugged the crossing guards she met on her route home from school.

Thompson worried at the time that the killer still could be in the community.

"I've thought, 'Please don't let it be one of these people that's come around and hugged me and said how sorry they were.' I've thought, 'I wonder -- when we were doing the candlelight vigils -- if he was out there," she said.

And if it turns out to be someone she knew?

"God have mercy on their soul. And they better be lucky that the Clay County sheriff's office is gonna get to 'em before I can."

Visit www.rememberingsomer.com for more information on the reward fund and family relief fund.

Police have asked that anyone with information about the case contact the Clay County Sheriff's Department in Jacksonville, Fla., at (877) 227-6911, or the FBI.