Jarred Harrell Arrested as Person of Interest in the Murder of 7 Year Old Somer Thompson

24 year old Jarred Harrell has been arrested in Meridian, Mississippi as a “person of interest” in the death and murder of 7 year old Somer Thompson.Harrell was arrested on 29 charges of possession of child pornography. Harrell is being held on one million dollar bond.

Jarred Mitchell Harrell

Authorities are calling Harrell a POI in the kidnapping and killing of Somer Thompson, the 7 year old Florida girl whose body was found in a landfill after she vanished on her way home from school. Jared Harrell lived at a home on 1152 Gano Avenue in Orange Park, FL just a few feet from where Somer Thompson was last spotted. He moved out a few weeks after Thompson’s murder.

According to accounts, Jarred Harrell previously lived in the same neighborhood as Somer Thompson.

Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said a man who had lived in the girl’s neighborhood was arrested in Mississippi Thursday on 29 charges of possession of child pornography. The man, Jarred Harrell, 24, has not been charged in the death of 7-year-old Somer Thompson.

Harrell, who was arrested in Meridian, Miss., had lived until recently in a home near Somer Thompson’s. Authorities were searched that house Thursday. Deputies and an FBI forensics team were seen searching its front yard with rakes and shovels

Beseler, who announced the arrest during an evening news conference

Justice for Somer Thompson

Harrell was arrested by U.S. Marshals Thursday morning in Meridian, Mississippi.

Authorities are searching two homes in Lauderdale County, Mississippi and in Calahan, Florida, respectively.   A search conducted on Thursday morning at 1152 Gano Avenue in Orange Park, where Harrell formerly resided, has already yielded evidence which led authorities to name him as a person of interest in the case. Harrell is being held on a $1 million bond.

According to Harrell’s arrest report in August 2009,  he was kicked out of an Orange Park apartment after a roommate thought he had stolen a cell phone.

Harrell left behind a computer, and the roommates said they searched it because they thought Harrell had been using it to look at child porn, the report says. The roommates said they did find porn involving young girls and turned the computer and discs over to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 10. The materials were sent to state investigators, who confirmed the contents.