BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) ? Bentonville police announced Monday evening that they have made an arrest in the slaying of a 6-year-old girl whose body was found two days before Thanksgiving.
Jersey Bridgeman was reported missing the morning of Nov. 20, and her body was found a short time later in an abandoned house two doors from her home.
Jersey previously had been at the center of a case that saw her father and stepmother sentenced to prison for abuse that included chaining the girl to a dresser.
Authorities have not said how Jersey was killed. Police said they will name the suspect at a news conference Monday night in Bentonville.
A search of her neighborhood near downtown turned up the girl's body within minutes.
Jersey's death came about a year after abuse allegations were leveled against her father and stepmother in nearby Rogers.
Court records show that David Bridgeman told an investigator he cut a belt to fit around his daughter's ankle and chained her to the dresser because she got into medication and other things around the house. He and Jersey's stepmother, Jana Bridgeman, pleaded guilty in June to false imprisonment, permitting abuse of a minor and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Jana Bridgeman is serving a 12-year prison sentence, plus three years for a probation revocation. David Bridgeman is serving an 18-year prison sentence.
Police have been tight-lipped about the homicide investigation. Investigators never said whether they had a suspect, but police Capt. Justin Thompson said there was "no reason ... for the community to be worried at this point."
Thompson said the girl died sometime the morning her body was found ? between midnight and 6:53 a.m. He would not reveal who called 911 to report her missing.
Investigators searched the home where Jersey lived and the house where her body was found, as well as the homes in between.
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