It was a lesson she'd given her 7-year-old daughter before hoping, like so many parents who have warned their children about strangers, that the message had sunk in.

Yet four days later, Somer ran ahead of her twin brother and sister as they walked home from school.

Investigators say Harrell, who lived just a few blocks from Somer's elementary school, kidnapped her, raped her and then killed her.

Somer walked by Harrell's house every day to and from school. Thompson said that while it's unknown what happened the day Somer went missing, she thinks it's very possible that Somer was drawn to a dog at Harrell's house that perhaps was in the backyard. Thompson also thinks that Somer probably didn't consider Harrell a stranger because she saw him so often walking to and from school and might have thought he was a nice neighbor.

"She was an angel here on Earth and an angel in heaven now," Thompson said. "She gave her little life so that all of us could know that there's bad people and that they will hurt your babies, and it can happen in the blink of an eye on the sunniest day of the year."

Thompson said it's hard to be happy during the month of October, but she is so thankful to the people of Clay County and the town of Orange Park for wrapping their arms around her even two years later.