Somer Thompson's Mom's Message to Accused Murderer: 'We Got You'

March 26, 2010 — -- Praising the murder charges against the suspect in the death of 7-year-old daughter Somer, Diena Thompson today addressed the accused killer to say, "We got you."

"I stood here ... and said, 'We're coming to get you, we will get you,'" an emotional Thompson told a Florida news conference of her previous statements. "And I'd like to take this opportunity to say to you, Jarred Harrell, we got you."

Clay County police chief Rick Beseler was applauded earlier today when he announced the first-degree murder charge against Harrell from under a banner that read "Justice for Somer." He was also charged with sexual battery and lewd or lascivious molestation of a child younger than 12.

Calling Harrell a monster, Thompson said she was glad "someone is finally going to pay for this horrific crime."

Police said they believe Harrell, 24, encountered Somer as she walked by his house on her way home from school. Beseler said police have evidence that Harrell then assaulted Somer, killed her and disposed of her body. Two days after her death, Somer's body was found in a landfill in Georgia. She died, police said, by asphyxiation.

"I don't believe that this was anything more than a crime of opportunity," Beseler said.

Citing witness testimony, statements by Harrell and DNA samples, among other evidence, Beseler said investigators were "confident that Jarred Harrell committed this crime."

Beseler said Harrell's own statements gave investigators "the amount of probable cause [necessary] to make the arrest today."

Harrell was already in custody on a battery of unrelated child pornography and child molestation.

"He's just a monster and he got out that day," Diena Thompson said. "Why? Why would you do this?"

Harrell's attorney, Clay County public defender Kate Bedell, did not return requests for comment from ABCNews.com.

Harrell had been named a person of interest in the case in early February when he was arrested on 29 unrelated counts of child pornography. Additional unrelated pornography and child molestation charges followed, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Somer was last seen walking to her Orange Park, Fla., home from school with her older sister, Abby, and twin brother Samuel. Her body was found two days later in a Georgia landfill.

In August, two months before Somer went missing, Harrell's former roommates turned over to police a computer Harrell allegedly used that had sexual images and videos of children, according to the February arresting documents. The computer, which had a filed called "Toddler Insertion," held "a large amount of child erotica and also child pornography," the documents said.

Apparently responding to criticism that police had not picked up Harrell earlier, Beseler said the suspect "did not come onto anyone's radar screen as someone who would commit a crime like this.

"We did our job," he said.

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

Harrell had moved to Mississippi after the girl's death and was extradited to Florida last month.

Beseler said that Harrell would be eligible for the death penalty should the state attorney choose to seek it.

Days before Harrell was named a person of interest, Somer's mother said the girl's killer should die.

"I want them to get the death penalty," she told ABC News Chief Law and Justice correspondent Chris Cuomo in February. "So in that sense I care, but other than that I don't, you know, I don't care."

Today, she said, "If they're asking for the death penalty, then they're asking for the death penalty.

"I have faith that a jury of 12 people, of his peers, are going to have no problem finding him guilty," she said.

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

In early November, Thompson told "Good Morning America" that 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 her daughter as a beautiful girl 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 going to them get them before I can."

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