A friend of the suspect in the kidnapping and murder of 5-year-old Alayna Ertl shed light Monday onto the relationship between the jailed man and the victim’s family, and the reason the suspect was likely staying at the Ertl home Friday night.
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Alayna’s mother, Kayla, put the child to bed at 2 a.m. Saturday.
Authorities tracked the truck to a cabin Anderson owns about 90 minutes north of Alayna’s Watkins, Minn. home, and found Anderson alone in a wooded area about a quarter mile away, according to a statement from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
Information provided by the suspect as well as additional investigative efforts led law enforcement to Alayna’s remains in a swampy wooded area a few hundred yards from the cabin.
A preliminary autopsy said that the little girl died from “homicidal violence”, the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
10 a.m.: The family contacted law enforcement to file a missing person report.
Anderson, a resident of Coon Rapids, is being held on probable cause of murder and kidnapping, authorities said. They have yet to disclose any details about the girl’s death.
Authorities issued an Amber Alert after 1:00 p.m. while they searched for the little girl.
Matt Ertl’s cellphone was in the truck that authorities said Anderson had taken, and the phone pinged about 9 a.m.in nearby Todd County, authorities said. “He had previously been to that residence and spent a night here and there – so he’s not a stranger and not new to the residence, but was just there for the night”. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The community of Watkins is still in shock over the abduction and murder of five-year-old Alayna Ertl. The stolen vehicle was the work truck of Alayna’s father and also had his cell phone in it, said the St. Cloud Times.
“We have no known predatory sexual offender information on him or anything like that”, Cruze told reporters.
Alayna’s death was “obviously not the outcome that we wanted”, Cruze told KARE-TV, Channel 11, “and when we did learn the information, the officers that were in the room you could see that.it weighed heavy on them”.
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A GoFundMe page has been set up for those wishing to donate in Ertl’s honor and help with funeral expenses.
