JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – New documents released Thursday by the state attorney's office reveal what Jarred Harrell told detectives he was doing the October afternoon that Somer Thompson disappeared. Her body was found in a Georgia landfill two days after she vanished.
Last week, Harrell, 24, pleaded not guilty to first-degree kidnapping, sexual battery and murder charges in connection with the disappearance and death of Somer.
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Harrell also faces dozens of charges of child pornography unconnected to the abduction and homicide case.
Channel 4's lead investigator Jennifer Waugh pored over 119 pages of court papers. Nearly all of them were related to the 29 counts of child pornography charges Harrell is facing. The documents also reveal detectives interviewed him seven days after Somer disappeared.
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Somer Thompson was last seen walking home from school around 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19. Detectives asked Harrell where he was between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. that day.
Detectives interviewed Harrell at the home on Gano Avenue in Orange Park where he lived with his mother and stepfather. Months later, that home was searched by federal investigators.
The documents showed that detectives said Harrell told them he was helping his mother pack up that day because she was moving to Callahan. He said that she was with him between 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. that afternoon and that she left for their new home in Callahan.
The papers revealed the same detective that interviewed Harrell also called Harrell's mother and that she gave him the same information. She said Harrell was with her between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. that day. She also said they left her Gano Avenue home together, got gas for the car, and had dinner at McDonald's before she drove to her home in Callahan. She said she left her son around 5:30 p.m. that day.
According to the court documents, Harrell continued to live at the Gano Avenue home for at least a week after Somer disappeared. Sheriff Rick Beseler of the Clay County Sheriff's Office said there is evidence that links Harrell to Somer's death.