CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Jarred Harrell, the man accused of killing 7-year-old Somer Thompson in October 2009 pleaded guilty to all charges, including murder.
The guilty plea allowed Harrell to avoid the death penalty and the judge sentenced him to life in prison.
In addition to Somer's kidnapping, molestation and murder, Harrell also pleaded guilty to unrelated cases of child molestation of a 3-year-old girl and possession of child pornography.
In addition to Somer's aunts, grandparents, and siblings, Diena Thompson, Somer's mother, spoke to Harrell at the hearing.
"You took [Somer's] dignity, her virginity and then you took her life. Then, when it was all over, you took her out like she was trash," Thompson said.
Thompson later added, "This will be the last breath that I waste or use on you."
In all, Harrell pleaded guilty to 59 charges. His trial on the child molestation charges was delayed last month.
Somer was kidnapped while walking home from school and found dead in a southeast Georgia landfill three days later. Within hours after Somer's kidnapping was reported more than two years ago, hundreds of people -- many who had never met the girl -- joined the search. By the time her body was found, thousands who had never met Somer felt the loss.
The investigation into who killed Somer was frustratingly slow, but the Sheriff's Office was persistent.
On Feb. 11, 2010, Harrell, a former Orange Park resident, was arrested in Meridian, Miss., on 29 charges of possession of child pornography and was named a person of interest in the case.
That same day, Clay County detectives and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement searched a house in the 1100 block of Gano Avenue, not far from where Somer lived.
On March 26, 2010, Harrell was charged with murder in Somer's death.
"It begins, frankly, when they find pornography on a computer somebody has given to them," said Jacksonville attorney Dale Carson, who has watched the case from afar since Somer disappeared. "So there's only a remote connection with Harrell."
Carson gives credit to the Sheriff's Office in following the leads from child porn on a computer to finding out Harrell lived near Somer's home in Orange Park. Eventually, investigators found him at a relative's house in Mississippi.
"You've got to hand it to the Sheriff's Office in Clay County," Carson said. "They found the body up in Georgia. That, no doubt, added some DNA evidence to it. They ID him, bring him back here. They charge him. I think they have a really substantive case against him, a substantial case."
Details of the case have been under tight guard with a gag order in place.