Police in Florida search for child killer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Police in suburban Jacksonville, Fla., say they're searching for the "child killer" responsible for the death of 7-year-old Somer Thompson.

Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler said he feared for the community and warned residents there is a "child killer on the loose," the (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union reported Wednesday.

"As long as it takes we are going to find whoever did this," Beseler said.

Hundreds of mourners filled the First Baptist Church of Orange Park Tuesday to bid farewell to the first-grader who disappeared Oct. 19 on her way to the Grove Park Elementary School.

Two days later her body was found in a Georgia landfill.

Beseler says investigators are continuing to work on the case but wanted to keep a low profile until the services were over.

Hundreds of people lined the streets as the hearse bearing Somer's body headed to Jacksonville Memorial Gardens, where a private burial took place.