R.I.P. LITTLE JORELYS RIVERA....SAD

A 20-year-old maintenance worker was arrested Wednesday 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.

Ryan Brunn, who lived and worked at the apartment complex, was jailed 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. Her body was found Monday.

Keenan said Brunn, who has no known criminal record, had keys to 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.


The mother of 7-year-old Jorelys Rivera had one wish Wednesday for the man accused of sexually assaulting and killing the child and then dumping her body in a trash bin.

.“What I want is the death penalty. He’s an animal. He killed my little angel,” Jocelyn Rivera said in Spanish to Channel 2 Action News.

Authorities say the man charged Wednesday with Jorelys' killing lived and worked at the same Canton apartment complex where the girl disappeared, and neighbors said the suspect even helped search for the missing girl.

Ryan McCabe Brunn was taken into custody around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said. The 20-year-old suspect has been assigned two public defenders and has a first court appearance at 1:30 p.m. Thursday before Superior Court Judge Frank Mills at the Cherokee County Justice Center in Canton.

GBI Director Vernon Keenan said Brunn lived at the River Ridge apartment complex where Jorelys lived and was killed, and had been a maintenance worker there. Tips from the public led investigators to Brunn, who was interviewed Monday and Tuesday, Keenan said.

Neighbor David Lott told the AJC Brunn was among those searching for Jorelys late Friday, just hours after she disappeared.

"Usually if someone's done something bad, they'd be nervous," Lott said Wednesday afternoon, just steps away from the playground. "He was just calm and collected."

Another neighbor confirmed that Brunn assisted in the search, even handing out flyers with the girl's picture.

Lindsey Hale, who lives in the first-floor apartment next door to the Rivera family, said after Jorelys' body was found Monday, she called a tip line twice to tell police about her suspicions about Brunn. She said she also was interviewed by the GBI.

Hale said that in recent weeks, she saw Brunn in his car driving slowly around the playground, looking at children. "I just got creeped out by him," she said.

Calling the killing "planned and calculated," Keenan declined to discuss evidence leading to the arrest. But he said the investigation is not over, noting, "This is a mammoth case."

Brunn, who has no known criminal record, had been under police surveillance since Tuesday evening, Keenan said. He had been employed at the complex since Nov. 7, John Bankhead, GBI spokesman, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Investigators will now re-trace Brunn's history at previous addresses, including Lumpkin County and in another state, Keenan said.

Brunn has been charged with homicide and making false statements, according to the affidavit for his arrest warrant, and additional charges may be filed by the Cherokee County District Attorney's Office.

"We are confidant that Brunn is the killer, that's why he's in custody," Keenan said when asked if there are any other suspects.

At Brunn's mother's house on Sleepy Hollow Road in Dahlonega, a man who identified himself as Brunn's brother emerged holding a pit bull on a short leash and chased news media off his property.

Later, he agreed to speak with Channel 2.

“They’re making my brother seem like he’s a monster,” Steven Brunn said. “My brother is kind-hearted. He’ll give to you if he’s got it. He’s great with kids. And there’s never been any signs of violence.

“The whole thing doesn’t seem possible. It’s not his nature. He’s not a violent person,” the 26-year-old brother said. “The only thing we can do is just hope and pray and cross our fingers that this ain’t true. If it is, there are no words to say. He’s a done deal.”

One Dahlonega neighbor, Josh Ellington, said he called police on the Brunn brothers when they allegedly were fighting.

"They’re out there at all hours of the night," Ellington said.

Another neighbor, Brittany Partin, 21, also noted that the brothers would often linger outside. She said that she once watched one of two boys in the home punch a dog in the nose, and that she had to call police a few times.

"They were very strange," she said.

Robert Whiteley, the suspect’s stepfather who lives in Cleveland, refused to comment except to say, “These are just allegations.”

Brunn, wearing a navy blue shirt, a blue Hollister hoodie and jeans, was taken into custody at the Canton apartment complex. He was booked into the Cherokee County jail about 20 minutes later.

Investigators said they believe Brunn abducted Jorelys within the vicinity of the playground, where she was last seen around 5 p.m. Friday. From there, Brunn allegedly took the girl to a vacant unit at the apartment complex, where it is believed he sexually assaulted her, beat and stabbed her, police said.

Brunn allegedly then put the girl's body into a trash bin at the complex, which was later compacted. The body was discovered Monday. Because of his employment at the complex, Brunn had access to the compactor on the trash bin, Keenan said.

Rosa Soto-Torres, Jorelys' aunt, said a viewing for Jorelys will begin at 4 p.m. Friday in Darby Funeral Home, with the funeral at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church, both in Canton, Soto-Torres said. The child’s body will be flown to Puerto Rico for burial.

"It could have been anybody. And anybody could have been next," Soto-Torres told the AJC. "He's not going to do it to another child."

McCormack Baron, the management company for River Ridge, in a statement Wednesday evening said that it was “providing all possible assistance to investigators” and was also offering assistance to residents and its employees, including professional counseling and related support.

"Anyone applying for an apartment of for employment at River Ridge is screened for criminal background including any sex offenses,” the property manager said.

“Specifically no one is allowed to reside or be employed at River Ridge if the background check indicates any record of any felony conviction, including but not limited to murder, attempted murder, rape or attempted rap, involuntary deviant sexual acts, aggravated assault, child abuse, domestic violence, arson or theft."

Neighbors in the complex told the AJC they were relieved at news of an arrest. Lorenza Wright said he heard the news, along with his mother and brother, when he went home for a lunch break.

"We all burst into tears," Wright said. "We were ecstatic."

The girl's body was discovered Monday after countless hours of searching. She died of blunt force trauma to the head and stab wounds, the GBI said Tuesday. Jorelys had also been sexually assaulted, Keenan said at a news conference in Canton.

Keenan also said investigators found what they believe to be blood in a vacant apartment unit, and that substance is being tested at the State Crime Lab to determine if it is linked to Jorelys. Keenan said investigators believe Jorelys was killed within two hours of her disappearance Friday.

Sixty-five local, state and federal investigators are working on the case, Baker said Tuesday.

"Several search warrants have been executed thus far, and hundreds of interviews have been conducted," he said.

Several registered sex offenders live in the vicinity of the apartment complex, and investigators have extensively interviewed all of them, Keenan said.

"We don't have any reason to believe any of them were involved," he said.

Hours after Jorelys' body was found at the apartment complex where she lived, her Cherokee County neighbors and friends held a candlelight vigil Monday night in her memory at the same playground where she was last seen.

River Ridge neighbors were shocked and saddened about the fate of the girl, a friendly child often seen playing outside with other children. The playground where Jorelys often played is across the street from the apartment where she lived. And Monday night, it was at the playground where the community mourned the girl.

On the fourth day of the search for Jorelys, a team made up of GBI agents, Georgia State Patrol troopers, Department of Natural Resources rangers and other state officers specially trained in child abductions was brought in Monday to assist local police and firefighters.

Searchers combed the apartment complex, checking every vehicle and some apartments for any clues to the girl's whereabouts. The parking lot of a nearby movie theater served as the command center for search efforts, which included a state patrol helicopter Monday.

But just hours after state and national search crews began to look for the girl, the massive effort ended with Keenan's announcement. The girl's body was found around 12:30 p.m., he said.

Jorelys, who turned 7 on Aug. 20, disappeared when she took a break from playing at the apartment complex on River Ridge Drive, police said. She reportedly told other children at the playground that she was going inside to get drinks, but never returned.

The girl's mother was inside while the child played outside, but a teenager was supposed to have been watching Jorelys, Lt. Jeff Hall with the Canton police department said.

The girl's two younger siblings were taken from their mother and placed in protective custody because of a lack of supervision, Det. Candy Worthy with Canton police said Sunday morning.

The children were still in protective custody Tuesday, according to Lt. Howard J. Baker, spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

Canton police launched a search for the girl late Friday, releasing pictures and a description of the Canton Elementary School first-grader. Police officers knocked on doors at the complex and interviewed registered sex offenders in the area Saturday, Worthy said.

"Everybody came together in the cold, at all hours of the night to look for her," David Lott, a resident of the complex, told the AJC Monday night.

The girl's family cooperated with the investigation, police have said. Her mother, who police have said is not a suspect, was told the horrific news before Keenan's announcement to reporters.

Maria Rodriguez, a friend and co-worker of the girl's mother, said news of the girl's death was a devastating blow after having the other two children removed from the home. Rodriguez said there are always children and adults at the park.

"There's no way that someone didn't see anything," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said she and Joselinne Rivera, the girl's mother, worked the overnight shift at the Pilgrim's Pride chicken processing plant, also in Canton.

Police had been searching the apartment complex throughout the weekend, but the trash bin where the body was found was not searched until Monday due to the amount of items it contained, Keenan said. The search area was about a 1-mile radius from the complex and included another nearby complex, police said.

Investigators moved the compacted trash bin across Reinhardt Parkway and to an open area, where they removed the contents and found the girl's body.

"I'm scared to death to walk into my apartment right now," Mary Johnston told AM 750 and 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB. "I'm packing my stuff tonight. I'm moving."

Johnston's 11-year-old son was playing with Jorelys on Friday and she said she helped search for the girl. Now, she fears for her family's safety.

Law enforcement officials asked anyone with any information to call 770-721-7852.

A Facebook page called "Light Up Canton for Jorelys" was created Monday and encouraged those in the community to leave porch lights on to honor the slain girl