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Maintenance man charged with murdering N. Ga. girl

CANTON, Ga. (AP) — A 20-year-old maintenance worker was arrested in the beating death of a 7-year-old north Georgia girl who was abducted and killed at an apartment complex and her body left in a trash bin, authorities said Wednesday.

Ryan Brunn, who lived and worked at the apartment complex, was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon on a murder warrant, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan.

Jorelys Rivera was last seen Friday evening leaving the playground to walk back home to get drinks for her friends. Authorities said they believe she was taken to an empty apartment in the complex, where she was sexually assaulted, stabbed and beaten to death.

Murder suspect Ryan Brunn, 20, of Canton, Ga., is escorted into the Cherokee County jail in Canton, Ga., after he was arrested Wednesday,Dec. 7, 2011. (AP)
Murder suspect Ryan Brunn, 20, of Canton, Ga., is escorted into the Cherokee County jail in Canton, Ga., after he was arrested Wednesday,Dec. 7, 2011. (AP)

Keenan said Brunn, who has no known criminal record, had keys to both the empty apartment and the trash compactor bin where Rivera's body was placed.

"We are confident that Brunn is the killer and that is why he is in custody," Keenan said, declining to detail what evidence investigators have against him.

According to an arrest warrant obtained by The Associated Press, Brunn was arrested on suspicion of murder and making false statements to authorities. The arrest warrant says, "the accused did unlawfully and with malice aforethought cause the death of Jorelys Rivera by hitting her on the head with a blunt object." No other details are contained in the document, which was filed Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear whether Brunn had an attorney. He was being held at the Cherokee County jail. Lt. Jay Baker with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said Brunn's initial appearance in Superior Court was set for Thursday.

Brunn, wearing a blue hooded sweat shirt and jeans, was arrested at the apartment complex and taken in handcuffs to a sheriff's patrol car surrounded by a handful of armed law enforcement officers. Video aired by WSB-TV shows Brunn keeping his head down and ignoring comments shouted by an observer.

Keenan said investigators focused on Brunn after receiving information from the public. Brunn had been under police surveillance since Tuesday night. Keenan said the investigation will continue for several months.

"This is a mammoth case," Keenan told reporters at a news conference in Canton. "We believe that this horrendous crime was planned and calculated, and we've recovered a lot of evidence."

Blue Ridge District Attorney Garry Moss said he had not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.

On Wednesday, Canton Police Chief Jeff Lance thanked investigators and volunteers who searched for the slain child. About 65 local, state and federal investigators worked the case and several hundred interviews were conducted, authorities said.

"Our goal was to make an arrest for what has happened to this sweet, innocent little girl," Lance said.

When Rivera's body was found three days after she disappeared, the community where neighbors said they all knew each other was shaken and a makeshift memorial took root at the playground.

"I'm very concerned," Drew Baucom, 17, said soon after the killing. "It makes me feel like my home life is violated, that I can't trust somebody walking around that you think you may know, but you really don't. It just worries me that something else will happen like this."

Investigators said they received numerous tips from the public and that valuable evidence had come from apartment complex residents. They also interviewed several sex offenders living at the complex, Keenan said. On Tuesday he said officials had no reason to believe those sex offenders were involved.

Brunn began working for the apartment complex last month, according to residents and his Facebook page. He had previously lived in Dahlonega, Ga., and Dumfries, Va.

His mother, Karen-Ann Whiteley, filed for bankruptcy last month. She lives in Dahlonega, about 50 miles northeast of Canton where the killing happened.

In July, when Florida resident Casey Anthony was acquitted on charges she killed her daughter, Brunn wrote on Facebook that Anthony will "get hers." Ryan Brunn's Facebook page has since been disabled.

Nancy Hudgins, 57, who lives near trash bin where Rivera's body was found, said she talked with Brunn on Monday as police searched apartments in the complex for clues. She said Brunn told her that he was nervous about allowing officers into his apartment because he had beer bottles and is not of legal drinking age.

"He was just kind of scared about them going in," she said.

She said neighbors are feeling relieved that a suspect has been arrested.

"We're still kind of hurt real bad about this girl," Hudgins said. "We're really glad they did get the guy."

Another neighbor, Bernadette Merrill, 58, said she was particularly distressed that the child had been found in a trash bin.

"When it first happened, I didn't get any sleep," she said. "I just don't see a child being thrown away like that."

She said children often play unaccompanied in the apartment complex, and when the school bus pulls up outside the gate of the complex, most children would get off the bus and walk home unaccompanied. The killing changed that dynamic, Merrill said.

"Monday, every child had a hand," she said.

River Ridge Management Co., which runs the apartment complex, said all employees undergo and must pass background checks before being hired. Company officials declined to say whether Brunn had passed his background check.

The apartment complex's management is providing counseling and other support to residents, company officials said.

 

<한글기사>

美여아 성폭행-살인범, 평범한 이웃청년

기독교 사립학교 나온 성실하고 과묵한 청년

미국 애틀랜타에서 여자 어린이를 잔인하 게 살해하고 시신을 쓰레기통에 유기한 범인은 이웃에 사는 평범한 청년인 것으로 드러났다.

용의자는 특히 성범죄 전과가 없고 기독교 사립학교를 나온 성실하고 착한 성품의 소유자로 알려져 범행동기에 의문이 일고 있다.

조지아주 합동수사본부는 7일(현지시간) 7세 여아인 졸리스 리베라를 살해한 유력한 용의자로 아파트 수리공 라이언 브런을 검거했다.

수사본부에 따르면 올해 20세인 브런은 지난 2일 애틀랜타 북부 캔턴의  리버릿지아파트 단지 놀이터에서 놀던 리베라를 이단지 내 빈 건물로 유인, 성폭행하고 살해한 뒤 근처 쓰레기통에 버린 혐의다.

범인이 살인을 저지른 곳은 리베라의 어머니가 근무하는 바로 옆 건물인 것으로 밝혀졌다.

브런은 지난해 고교를 졸업한 뒤 이 아파트 수리공으로 일해왔다.

그는 범행 후 실종자 수색작업에 참여해 소녀의 얼굴 사진이 담긴 전단지를 돌리는가 하면 경찰에 잠긴 아파트 문을 여는 방법도 가르쳐준 것으로 알려졌다.

브런은 그가 이전에도 놀이터 주변을 서성거리면서 어린이들을 물끄러미 쳐다보는 등 수상한 행동을 했다는 주민들의 제보로 덜미를 잡혔다.

브런이 범행 사실을 털어놓자 그의 가족과 친구들은 "절대 그럴 사람이 아니다"며 충격을 가누지 못했다.

브런의 친형인 스티브는 채널2액션 등 지역 언론과의 인터뷰에서 "동생은 항상 어린이들을 친절하게 대하는 가슴 따뜻한 사람"이라며 "사람들이 착한 동생을 괴물로 몰고 있다"며 분통을 터트렸다.

경찰은 평소 말수가 적고 소심한 성격의 브런이 힘없는 어린이를 상대로 욕정을 채우려다 잔인한 범행에 이르게 된 것으로 보고 정확한 살해동기를 조사 중이다.

이번 사건은 지난 7월 뉴욕에서 평범한 30대 남성이 길을 묻던 8세 남자 어린이를 유인해 토막 살해한 사건처럼 뚜렷한 범행동기가 없다는 점에서 미국사회에 큰 충격을 안기고 있다.

 

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