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VALLEY PARK, Missouri (CNN) -- A 24-year-old homeless man was charged Saturday with the murder of 6-year-old Cassandra "Casey" Williamson, police said.
Johnny A. Johnson, who is being held without bail in St. Louis County Jail, was charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and attempted forcible rape
"Detectives from our agency were able to build a strong case against him," St. Louis County Police Chief Ron Battelle said in a statement.
Officer Mason Keller told CNN Saturday that the medical examiner was performing an autopsy on the body of the suburban St. Louis girl, and would likely release the results Monday.
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He said Johnson would probably be arraigned Monday.
After a day of frantic searching by more than 100 law enforcement officials and scores of volunteers, Casey's body was found late Friday afternoon in an abandoned glass factory near her neighborhood.
Williamson's slaying was not a random act but was planned, Battelle said.
"He's made statements to us and has cooperated. I can't detail what he said, but the one thing I can tell you is this was not a spontaneous act on his part. He had it planned," Battelle said.
The front yard of the child's house was piled high Saturday with flowers, stuffed animals, a helium balloon and handwritten signs of support. One said, "We love you. You will never be forgotten."
"It's tough. We stayed up as a group most of the night last night, until we just got so tired that it was time for us to separate and go to bed and think about how we were going to start the next day, without Casey," said her grandfather, Jim Wideman.
"There isn't anything that can help you get through this. It takes time," he added.
FBI agents, police, and tracking dogs spent much of Friday searching for Casey in a park area along the bank of the Meramec River, only a few blocks from Casey's home. Divers scoured the river bed.
| Joann Lutz comforts Lindsey Crane, 8, while looking at mementos left in memory of Cassandra in Valley Park, Missouri. | |
Johnson had been a suspect in her disappearance from the start, authorities said.
Battelle said Casey and her father Ernest Williamson had spent the night with other family members in a home across the street from their own residence. Other people, including Johnson, had also spent the night there, the chief added.
Williamson was staying there because he wanted to help his wife, Angela Williamson, from whom he is separated, she said.
"When he [the father] got up in the morning, he looked in the living room and Casey was in the living room along with John Johnson, our suspect," Battelle said. "He seen him in there and then he went to the restroom and when he came back to the living room, both were gone."
Soon after the girl was reported missing, two police officers came across Johnson, walking up the street in front of the house.
"Certainly their suspicions were raised because of the fact that he was wet," Battelle said. He said Johnson told them he had just gone swimming in the Meramac River, which is a few hundred yards from the house.
"At some point in time, the suspect began cooperating with detectives and he indicated where she was," Battelle said. "Citizens in the area who were also searching, it was almost at the same time, located her in this abandoned glass factory."
Casey's death follows a series of child abduction cases across the United States, including Elizabeth Smart in Utah, Samantha Runnion and Danielle van Dam in California. Earlier this week, 7-year-old Erica Pratt of Philadelphia escaped after she was kidnapped.
