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Arrest made in murder of Georgia seven-year-old

CANTON, Ga. — Police on Wednesday charged a 20-year-old man with the murder of Jorelys Rivera, a young Georgia girl whose body was left in a dumpster after she was abducted and killed.

Ryan Brunn — a maintenance worker at the Canton, Ga., apartment complex where the seven-year-old girl lived — was arrested at 12:40pm local time, officials said.

Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said officers had Brunn under surveillance since Tuesday night and by Wednesday had “sufficient evidence” to obtain a warrant for his arrest.

“We are confident that Brunn is the killer and that is why he is in custody,” the director said during a press conference.

Keenan declined to elaborate on the evidence against Brunn but said, “We believe that this horrendous crime was planned and calculated.” He said he did not know the extent to which Brunn had specifically targeted Jorelys.

Jorelys is believed to have been abducted Friday from the playground at the River Ridge apartment complex in Canton, 40 miles north of Atlanta.

She was taken to a vacant apartment, sexually assaulted, beaten and stabbed before her body was dumped, law enforcement officials said.

Jorelys died of blunt force trauma to her head. Investigators found her body Monday in a trash dumpster.

Video footage of the arrest showed Brunn, wearing a blue Hollister sweatshirt and jeans, being led out of his home in handcuffs as SWAT team officers and detectives looked on.

Keenan said the suspect will face additional charges as investigators continue to pore over the details of the “mammoth case.”