Re: Somer Thompson -- Found Deceased 10/21/09

by pi-girl on Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:29 pm

It is so heartbreaking to watch the emotion as Diena speaks. The pain lingers - as the world forgets and moves on, Somer's mom cannot. She mentions Psalm 94, so I am posting what it says:
Psalm 94
1 O LORD, the God who avenges,
O God who avenges, shine forth.
2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
pay back to the proud what they deserve.
3 How long will the wicked, O LORD,
how long will the wicked be jubilant?
4 They pour out arrogant words;
all the evildoers are full of boasting.
5 They crush your people, O LORD;
they oppress your inheritance.
6 They slay the widow and the alien;
they murder the fatherless.
7 They say, "The LORD does not see;
the God of Jacob pays no heed."
8 Take heed, you senseless ones among the people;
you fools, when will you become wise?
9 Does he who implanted the ear not hear?
Does he who formed the eye not see?
10 Does he who disciplines nations not punish?
Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?
11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man;
he knows that they are futile.
12 Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD,
the man you teach from your law;
13 you grant him relief from days of trouble,
till a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the LORD will not reject his people;
he will never forsake his inheritance.
15 Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
17 Unless the LORD had given me help,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
18 When I said, "My foot is slipping,"
your love, O LORD, supported me.
19 When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought joy to my soul.
20 Can a corrupt throne be allied with you—
one that brings on misery by its decrees?
21 They band together against the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the LORD has become my fortress,
and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
23 He will repay them for their sins
and destroy them for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will destroy them.

by Justice4all on Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:38 pm

Matthew Watson, 21, was arrested for sexually attacking a 16-year-old girl about 10 miles from where Somer Thompson disappeared.

Watch the video below and click on the following link for more info: http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=151755

by FystyAngel on Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:21 pm

Detectives Follow More Leads in Somer Thompson's Death

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=151755

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Detectives with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office arrested a 21-year-old man Feb. 5 for kidnapping and sexually battering a 16-year-old girl on her way to school last Thursday morning. This is about 10 miles from where Somer Thompson disappeared.

Now, JSO has spoken with the Clay County Sheriff's Office and passed along information to those investigating Somer Thompson's death, said Assistant Chief Tom Hackney with JSO.

Police say they believe Matthew Watson was waiting in the woods in the 10,000 block of 103rd Street near Connie Jean Road to commit the crime. This is on the Westside.

"We made them aware of this individual, his motives and a little bit of his criminal history. They are aware of it and they are looking into it," said Hackney.

Watson made his first court appearance Saturday morning and will be held without bond. He has been arrested in the past and was linked to the Westside crime through DNA.

The Clay County Sheriff's Office released a statement on Monday which said:

"We can confirm that we were notified by JSO because their case involved a juvenile. As with many cases that occur near our border, they shared information about their case with us. We remain committed to not discussing any of the specific details of the Somer Thompson case and ask that no one make any assumptions about Somer's abduction and death based on JSO's comments."

Somer was abducted and murdered back in October 2009. Her body was found two days later in a Georgia landfill. Police have sifted through thousands of leads looking for her killer. Somer's mom, Diena, spoke to First Coast News recently and believes the killer is local and spoke to Somer at least once to gain her trust.

The reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the Somer Thompson case has grown to $64,000.

Call First Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS if you have any information. You will remain anonymous. You can also send tips to the Clay County Sheriff's Office at 1-877-227-6911 or via email at cart@claysheriff.com.

You can donate to the Somer Thompson reward fund at Ameris Bank. It has two locations. One is at 888 Lane Avenue and the other is at 4835 Town Center Parkway. The account number is 3123504437.

by awaiting justice on Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:15 am

Wow this is great !!

To think this 16 yr old girl was lucky enough to get away... I wonder if his intentions were to kill her?? Thank God she got away!!!! Hopefully she will get counselling and learn to move past this horrible experience..

The thought that this monster is off the streets is a relief and to think this cud be Somers perp... I hope they have DNA in Somers case to nail this guy...

Its hard to know if hs DNA was already in Codis from prior convictions that are referred too... If it was in CODIS, then one wud hope any DNA in Somers case wud have been already run thru the database...

If there isnt any DNA in Somers case, hopefully there will be other ways to nail him, or elinimate him with certainty ...

I am also wondering how far he lived from Haleighs last year? His M.O seemed to be to hide in the woods...

by Piper on Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:21 am

I know they have been very tight lipped on what information they have so far. If they have DNA, it apparently hasn't matched anyone in the database yet. I'm hoping since Somer's body was found so quickly that the DNA was there, waiting to identify her killer one day.

by FystyAngel on Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:06 pm

Possible break in Somer Thompson case
http://wdbo.com/localnews/2010/02/possible-break-in-somer-thomps.html

(AP) Authorities have served a search warrant in the case of a northeast Florida girl whose body was found in a landfill.

Clay County officials haven't said why a home just west of where Somer Thompson was last seen is being searched.

A news conference is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The 7-year-old girl vanished in late October as she was walking home from school. Her body was found in a landfill some 50 miles away.

No one has been charged in her death. Authorities have said they've been sifting through thousands of tips in the case.

Search underway in Somer Thompson case
http://www.abcactionnews.com/content/news/local/story/Search-underway-in-Somer-Thompson-case/uc27KCnLlkiJXVdqVDuu8Q.cspx

ORANGE PARK, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities served a search warrant Thursday in the case of a northeast Florida girl whose body was found in a landfill after she vanished on her way home from school.

Clay County officials didn't immediately announce why a home just west of where Somer Thompson was last seen was being searched, but deputies and an FBI forensics team were seen searching its front yard with rakes and shovels.

Sheriff Rick Beseler planned an evening news conference. He has said for months that he wouldn't address the case unless there was a significant development.

Messages left by The Associated Press with a spokeswoman for Beseler were not immediately returned.

The 7-year-old girl vanished Oct. 19 as she was walking home from school sparking a search that lasted for several days. Investigators sorted through more than 225 tons of garbage at a landfill some 50 miles away, across the state line in Georgia, before their worst fears were realized: Sticking out of the rubbish were a child's lifeless legs.

Authorities have checked into thousands of tips in the case in the nearly four months since, but no one has been charged in the killing. The girl's mother, Diena Thompson, said she didn't want to get her hopes up that a break had been made in the case.

"I'm not speculating on anything. I don't want to get my hopes up and I don't want to get my hopes down," she told The Florida Times-Union. "I'm going to put my faith in God."

by FystyAngel on Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:11 pm

Breaking News....HLN just had a press conference and it was stated that they do have a POI in jail. A 24 yr old male. He's been arrested on numerous counts of child pornography. Also, he is being held on a Million dollar bail. Not sure of the spelling but the stated his name is Jarred Harrell(I believe)

by Piper on Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:15 pm

OMG........

by FystyAngel on Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:16 pm

Deputies, FBI search home near Somer Thompson's disappearance; sheriff to speak
'I'm going to put my faith in God,' Somer's mother said; one search warrant is served a block from where the Orange Park girl was last seen
http://jacksonville.com/news/2010-02-11/story/deputies_fbi_search_home_near_somer_thompsons_disappearance_sheriff_to_speak

ORANGE PARK - A man arrested today in Mississippi on child pornography charges was named tonight by Sheriff Rick Beseler as a person of interest in the disappearance and slaying of Somer Thompson.

Beseler said Jarred Harrell, 24, is being held on $1 million bond in a Mississippi jail after being charged with 29 counts of child pornography. Beseler said Harrell at one time lived in a home at 1152 Gano Ave., which was searched today as part of a series of search warrants served in the case. The home is along a path that Somer, 7, disappared on Oct. 19 while on her way home from school.

Clay County investigators and FBI agents continued their search tonight of the unoccupied house in the block just west of where Sheriff Rick Beseler has Somer was last seen. Warrants were also served on the homes in Callahan, a home in Mississippi and on a car in Mississippi, Beseler said.

Beseler refused to take any questions from reporters. His appearance is significant because the sheriff has been saying for months he won't address inquires about the Somer Thompson case publically unless there is a significant development.

Investigators have said that they have been waiting for tests on hundreds of evidence samples taken from the landfill where Somer was found. About half of those tests have come back; a number of the results were received recently, investigators have said.

The home on Gano Avenue was roped off with police tape as deputies and an FBI forensics team began searching in the front yard using rakes and shovels. Armed with a search warrant, they entered the home shortly befoer 3:30 p.m. A table is set up outside with brown paper bags to collect evidence.

The single-story brick house was apparently empty when police arrived. Next door neighbor Thelma Cody, 77, said a husband, wife and their two sons and a cousin who'd been living in the home moved out last year. She said she wasn't sure when the family moved or where to. Another neighbor, Tanyia Williams, said she saw people move into the home last year, clean up the property and then leave at some point later in the year.

Records obtained by the Times-Union show the listed property owner, General L. Dailey, moved out of the home late last year, possibly in mid- to late November. Dailey, 66, owned the house since 1996, according to Clay County property appraiser records. One record reviewed by the Times-Union listed Dailey's occupation at one time as an independent Baptist preacher. Neighbors said they knew little about who lived in the home.

Beseler did not say why the house is being searched and whether the search is connected to Somer's case.

Diena Thompson, Somer's mother, told the Times-Union this afternoon she supports whatever work authorities can do to bring Somer's killer to justice.

"I'm not speculating on anything. I don't want to get my hopes up and I don't want to get my hopes down,"said Thompson, 35, said of the search. "I'm going to put my faith in God and hope the Clay County Sheriff's Office does what they're good at."

Somer, 7, disappeared ,Oct. 19 while walking home from Grove Park Elementary with her brother and sister. Hundreds of people scoured the neighborhood after she vanished. Her body was found in a Folkston landfill two days later.

In the days after Somer disappeared, investigators, including the same FBI forensics team on-hand today, nitially focused on a home under renovation at 1080 Gano Ave. Investigators searched a Dumpster on that property and also gathered evidence from inside the home, which had been damaged in a fire and has not been reoccupied.

Today's police activity occurred as a number of students were walking home from Somer’s school on the route she usually took. The seasrch drew several curious neighbors from their homes.

“Does this have anything to do with the little girl?” asked Joey Smith, 24, who lives about a block away.

Lisa Gainers, who lives near the home, aid she hopes police will be able to learn more about Somer's disappearance and death from their search.

"If they find something pertaining to Somer, that's good," said Gainers, 49.

by FystyAngel on Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:21 pm

Clay County Sheriff's Officers park outside of a Clay County home where they are serving a search warrant in the Somer Thompson murder case

Clay County Sheriff's Officers park outside of a Clay County home where they are serving a search warrant in the Somer Thompson murder case

House they are searching is about one block away from where Somer went missing.

Facts in the case
Oct. 27 | Hundreds attend Somer Thompson's funeral at First Baptist Church in Orange Park.
Oct. 22 | Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler confirms that the body is that of Somer Thompson.
Oct. 21 | The body of a small child was found in a Ga. landfill where authorities were looking for Somer Thompson.
Oct. 20 | An Amber Alert was issued about her disappearance.
Oct. 19 | Somer was last seen wearing a cranberry colored jumpsuit with pink-striped sleeves. She is 3-foot-5, weighs 65 lbs and has brown hair.

by khintx on Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:42 pm

Person of interest arrested:

http://www.news4jax.com/news/22535336/detail.html

by FystyAngel on Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:57 pm

Person Of Interest Arrested In Somer Thompson Case
Clay County Deputies, FBI, FDLE Search Vacant Home On Gano Avenue
http://www.news4jax.com/news/22535336/detail.html#

ORANGE PARK, Fla. -- Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said a 24-year-old man has been arrested on child pornography charges and been named a person of interest in the Somer Thompson case.

Beseler said Jarred Harrell has been charged with 29 counts of possession of child pornography that occurred in Clay County, and he was arrested Thursday by federal agents in Meridian, Miss., and is being held on $1 million bond.

Jarred Harrell, 24, was arrested Thursday in Meridian, Miss., on child pornography charges and has been named a person of interest in the Somer Thompson murder case.

On Thursday afternoon, a search warrant was issued on a vacant house in the 1100 block of Gano Avenue near where Somer was last seen before she disappeared and was found killed in October. The 7-year-old's body was discovered three days later at a Georgia landfill. Beseler said Harrell previously lived at the home.

Beseler said other residences in Callahan and Lauderdale County, Miss., and a vehicle have also been searched in connection with the case.

Clay County deputies, the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have been searching the home on Gano Avenue since Thursday afternoon. Investigators were seen wearing moon suits, entering the house and collecting evidence. Investigators have asked JEA to turn the power on in the home to give them light as they continue their search into the night.

Investigators searched a separate, vacant home about a block away in the days after Somer's body was found. They collected evidence from the home and have been waiting for lab results to return.

The family of Somer Thompson released a statement saying, "At this time, Diena Thompson (Somer's mother) and her family are monitoring the latest developments in the investigation into the abduction and murder of Somer Thompson. However, Diena is not prepared to speak publicly on the matter and asks that you please respect her and her family’s privacy as they continue to process events as they unfold. In the near future, Diena will address the media on the latest developments in the case."

by Piper on Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:55 pm

What a sick frak....... Mad

by Justice4all on Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:30 pm

I'm glad they finally made an arrest in this case. This sick freak needs to be off the streets whether he's the one who killed Somer or not. If he is the one who murdered Somer, there is no punishment that is too harsh for him. I'm sure the other prisoners would take him out quick if he was kept in general population, but more than likely he will be kept in isolation where they can't get at him.

by Piper on Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:09 pm

Exactly, J4A...a fraking freak! Disgusting............

by FystyAngel on Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:30 pm

Person of Interest in Somer Thompson Case
Person of Interest Jarred Harrell, 24, Arrested on 29 Child Porn Charges, Lived Near Thompson
By LEE FERRAN
Feb. 11, 2010 —
http://www.thesky973.com/pages/6344095.php

Police have arrested a former neighbor of Somer Thompson, the 7-year old girl whose body was found in landfill last fall, and named him a person of interest in the girl's disappearance and murder, investigators said today.

Jarred Harrell, 24, was arrested "without incident" on 29 unrelated counts of possession of child pornography in Meridian, Miss., Florida's Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said in a press conference today.

"We are also naming Harrell a person of interest in connection with the abduction and murder of Somer Thompson," Beseler said. Beseler would not comment further on Harrell's connection to Thompson, "as that would require I comment on evidence in an ongoing investigation," he said.

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

The roommates, who discovered the files, turned the computer over to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office on Aug. 10, two months before Thompson disappeared.

Bond was set at $1 million.

Somer's body was found in a Georgia landfill two days after she went missing on October 19, 2009. The day she disappeared, the little girl was walking to her Jacksonville, Fla., home from school with her older sister Abby and twin brother Samuel. Somer was last seen in front of a vacant house on a block she walked every day.

Beseler said several residences, including a vacant house near the Thompsons' home, and a vehicle were searched earlier today.

In the more than three months since her death, police have followed thousands of leads but have not named any suspects in the case.

In early November, Somer's mother Deana 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 then. "That's my scariest ... 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, wanted to make people feel better.

"She just always wanted everybody to be happy with her. ... So sweet. Hugged everybody," she said. Somer routinely hugged the crossing guards she met on her route home from school.

Thompson worried then that the killer may still 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 -- 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."

Diena Thompson's Advice for Parents

It is a struggle to balance that anger with a mother's need to stay strong for her remaining children. Thompson said the ordeal has been especially hard on Somer's twin, Samuel.

They used to play in the pool together and race each other to see who could stay underwater the longest.

"We used to nickname her 'Grace' because she couldn't really walk and chew bubblegum at the same time," Thompson said of Somer.

She loved to dance, but she had no rhythm, Thompson said.

"She was just so wonderful. And you take it for granted. You never think you're gonna be sitting here," Thompson said. "And you have a lot of regret because you may have been too busy. And you weren't really busy. You were just too busy in your head. And I'll have to live with that, and that's hard."

She said she would tell other parents to be sure and tell their children they love them every day.

"It don't take but a couple seconds. And when you think you're too busy, really think about what you're saying you're too busy for. Because you don't want to live with this. That's what I regret. It's hard to live with regret and guilt," she said.

Diena understands acutely that the world's attention will move on. The flowers in her home are beginning to fade. The vigils that used to occur nightly have grown more infrequent.

But she is determined to continue the fight for justice.

"I know I'm not gonna let this monster win. I will be victorious in the end, and he will pay," she said. "We're gonna get him, and he will pay. And I hope he's scared."

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

Police have asked that if you have any information about this case, contact the Clay County Sheriffs Department in Jacksonville, Fla. at (877) 227 - 6911 or the FBI.

by Piper on Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:34 am

Harrell won't appear before the court until Tuesday, because of snow today and President's day Monday....

A former Clay County man named by Sheriff Rick Beseler as a person of interest in the Oct. 19 Somer Thompson slaying will appear in a Mississippi court next week to be arraigned on child-pornography charges, authorities said.

Jarred Mitchell Harrell, 24, will have to decide whether to waive or fight extradition back to Clay County to face accusations that he had more than two dozen pornographic images of young girls on his computer found by roommates in Orange Park.

Harrell was arrested on Thursday while living in Meridian, Miss., and is being held on $1 million bail at the Lauderdale County Detention Facility. Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie told the Times-Union this morning that Harrell would have appeared in court this morning, but heavy snow has caused county offices and much of the rest of the city to close.

Courts are expected to reopen Tuesday after the President's Day holiday, Sollie said.

Sollie said Harrell is being kept in an isolation cell because he's being held on federal warrants. Sollie also said Harrell is being monitored frequently, but he's not under a suicide watch.

If Harrell waives extradition, he will be returned quickly to Clay County to face the 29 counts of child pornography. If he fights, a process will begin to make sure he is properly identified and is the person wanted on the pornography warrants. Once that is confirmed, a governor's warrant will then be issued allowing authorities to bring him to Clay.

Sollie said Harrell has yet to retain an attorney. He also said Harrell, whose been living in Meridian for less than a few months, has no criminal record in the city. Florida records show he had one arrest in 2007 when Jacksonville police charged him with possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana. He entered a deferred prosecution program and doesn't have a conviction on his record.

FBI agents arrested Harrell at a Meridian home without incident and turned him over to the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office. The county of about 80,000 people is in eastern Mississippi.

The arrest warrant on the child-pornography charges said Harrell worked for a Mississippi recycling company at the time of his arrest. He is listed as 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds.

A Middleburg woman whose daughter was a one-time roommate of Harrell and who said she has known him and his family for years described him as a recluse who enjoyed playing computer games.

Lisa Buchanan said Harrell spent at least some time alone in his mother’s home at 1152 Gano Ave. at the time of Somer’s disappearance.

The home, which is a block from where 7-year-old Somer was last seen and along her route home from Grove Park Elementary School, was searched Thursday by Clay deputies and FBI agents. Authorities also served related search warrants at homes in Callahan and Mississippi, as well as a car in Mississippi, Beseler said.

Buchanan, 45, said Harrell had previously been living with her daughter in an apartment on Wells Road. But she said Harrell was kicked out in August for stealing an iPod.

She said her daughter then found child pornography, with girls as young as 6, on a computer and computer discs Harrell left behind. Harrell’s arrest docket provides graphic details of those images and movies.

Buchanan and her 46-year-old husband, Rod, said they went with their daughter to turn over the materials to police in August. Those materials were in turn given to the state attorney general’s Cyber Crimes Unit.

It remains unclear why those materials were not processed until after Somer's death.

The Buchanans said they spotted Harrell’s vehicle outside his mother’s home a few days after Somer’s body was found and alerted police to their concerns about him. The couple said Harrell’s mother and stepfather moved out of the home about two weeks before Somer’s disappearance.

The couple also said police became extremely interested after learning Harrell had been spending time at his parents’ otherwise vacant home

The above was bolded by me, see the rest of the story below dated today, 2/12/10:

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-02-12/story/man_of_interest_in_somer_thompson_slaying_to_appear_in_mississippi_court

by Piper on Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:43 am

I have to wonder if the police took heed of their concerns and interviewed Harrell at that time? And they had turned the child pornography over to police in August. He was right under everyone's nose, a block away.

by Justice4all on Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:47 am

TRANSCRIPT: Diena Thompson on Catching Daughter's Killer

Diena Thompson, Mother of Murdered Somer Thompson, Said She Wants Killer 'to Die'

By CHRIS CUOMO and CLEO ANDREADIS
Feb. 12, 2010

On Thursday, police named a person of interest in connection with death of 7-year-old Somer Thompson, Diena Thompson's daughter. Jarred Harrell, a former neighbor of Thompsons, was arrested on 29 counts of possession of child pornography, Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said Thursday.

Beseler would not comment further on Harrell's connection with the girl.

Thompson vanished on Oct. 19 while walking to her Jacksonville, Fla., home from school with her two siblings. Investigators searched for two days and sorted through more than 225 tons of garbage at a landfill some 50 miles away across the state line in Georgia, where they found her body.

Days before Harrell was arrested, Deana Thompson sat down with "20/20" anchor and chief law and justice correspondent Chris Cuomo for an emotional interview.

Part of that interview aired Feb. 12 on "Good Morning America" and "Nightline." The transcripts are below:

CHRIS CUOMO: The idea of catching the bad guy, the monster who is still out there. What happens when that happens?

DIENA THOMPSON: I feel like it'll give me some more closure because I still blame myself, you know? What if I did this? Or what if this could have been done and instead of looking in the mirror and blaming myself, I'm going to have a picture of someone else to blame. So I just, I want to see this person's face. I, I can't wait to meet him face to face.

CHRIS CUOMO: What would you say?

DIENA THOMPSON: Why? Give me your best excuse, your best reason as to why you had to do this.

CHRIS CUOMO: ...Do you care what happens to whoever did this?

DIENA THOMPSON: I want them to die. I want them to get the death penalty…I've got to be the voice for Somer.

CHRIS CUOMO : When…when the investigation ends, and it ends, hopefully, in the arrest of the right person, do you then want to know everything you don't know right now?

DIENA THOMPSON: Yes.

CHRIS CUOMO: Yes. Why.

DIENA THOMPSON : 'Cause I-I was there when she was born and I should know, how she left.

CHRIS CUOMO: What good do you think it'll do for your head, to hear what could be, not something that's pleasant to hear.

DIENA THOMPSON: Because 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.

CHRIS CUOMO : What is the hardest part in all of this emotionally for you to deal with.

DIENA THOMPSON: Knowing that I'm never gonna…while I'm on this earth, ever gonna be able to hold her, touch her, have-smell her, you know, your children, they just have this smell about them. Each one unique to itself, and, just knowing that I'm never gonna get to see, you know, her look up at me and…smile.

DIENA THOMPSON: She—you know, she had problems like actually with her speech like, you know, "yittle" instead of "little."

CHRIS CUOMO: You had a nickname for Somer. Grace.

DIENA THOMPSON: Yeah.

CHRIS CUOMO: Why?

DIENA THOMPSON: because she was so clutzy. I mean, she could not walk and chew bubble gum at the same time, but she loved to dance. She wanted to be a ballerina.

CHRIS CUOMO :That night…what are you telling yourself.

DIENA THOMPSON: I'm never gonna see her again.

CHRIS CUOMO: You were that confident that that's—

DIENA THOMPSON: I—I can't explain it, but, I just knew, that she was gone.

DIENA THOMPSON: 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. And they, then…knew, 'cause 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—being the mother, they called and told me.

CHRIS CUOMO: You want to know all of it. You want to know what happened to Somer.

DIENA THOMPSON: I do.

CHRIS CUOMO : No matter what the detail, no matter what that involves.

DIENA THOMPSON: I think that the picture I have drawn in my mind of what I think happened can't be any worse than what actually happened cause your mind will play tricks on you...

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/transcript-diena-thompson-catching-daughters-killer/story?id=9814175&page=2

by Justice4all on Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:48 am

Somer Thompson's Father Reacts To 'Person Of Interest' Arrest

2/12/2010 12:16:50 PM

Alamance County, NC -- Somer Thompson's father is reacting to news that a person of interest has been arrested in death of his little girl.

Somer, 7, disappeared in Florida in October while walking home from school. Her body was found several days later in a Georgia landfill.

Police in Mississippi arrested Jarred Harrell, 24, Thursday on child porn charges. He used to live near where Somer walked home and where she disappeared.

"It's like reliving it all over again. We've waited so long to find out who this man was and to finally see his face on TV was a feeling of I'm not ready for this yet," said her father Sam Thompson, who lives in Alamance County.

He spoke with reporters at Ye Old Country Kitchen in Snow Camp Friday. The owner of the restaurant allowed journalists to gather there to talk with Thompson.

Sam Thompson said he is ready for answers and closure about how his daughter Somer died.

"It's been painful. There's a process of healing, which is tremendous, but without knowing who did it or how she was taken, these are all thoughts in your mind once you let your mind start to wander, you always see the worst," he said.

Thompson said he's not convinced yet that authorities have his daughter's killer.

"If they have this person and they connect his name along with Somer, there's definitely something there. But I find out as you find out. They still have to be careful. They don't want this person to get away on a loophole," he said.

So what does he want to happen to whoever did take Somer?

"I think he should be put away in a solitary confinement cell with no sunlight for the rest of his life. He should have to suffer something. Just being executed, that's the easy way out," he said.

One of the hardest things for Thompson might still be to come.
"As a father to have his daughter taken and to have to look this man in his eyes one day. That's something that I really have to pray hard about that I'll be able to look this man in the face and forgive him for what he's done," he said.
Thompson's immediate focus is on remembering his daughter.

"We miss her so much," he said crying. "Now all I have are memories."

Thompson is becoming an advocate for child safety. He points to jessicaslawnownc.org for examples on how serious the threats are. He said a "Somer's Law" is in the works to prevent children from walking home alone.

"How many more laws are we going to have to name after our dead children before we wake up and do something about it and stop this from happening," Thompson said.

http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=137328