GULFPORT, Miss. – A Mississippi man has been charged with capital murder in the slaying and sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl who was taken from an apartment complex last week.
Gulfport Police Chief Leonard Papania says charges were filed Wednesday against 29-year-old Alberto Julio Garcia of Gulfport, identified several days ago as a person of interest in the slaying of Ja-Naya (juh-NAY-uh) Thompson.
Papania says Garcia will be held without bond. Garcia has been in jail since he was arrested Friday in an unrelated case.
The child was last seen outside her family's apartment the evening of July 16. Her body was found the next day in an abandoned trailer nearby. The coroner says she was strangled to death.
It was not immediately clear whether Garcia has an attorney.
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