A ranch hand led police Saturday to the dismembered remains of a 9-year-old boy missing for nearly three months and confessed that he kidnapped, sexually molested and killed the boy.
Juan Carlos Chavez was charged with kidnapping, aggravated sexual battery, first-degree murder and various firearms charges.Jimmy Ryce vanished Sept. 11 after getting off a school bus a few blocks from his home in southern Dade County.
After Jimmy's disappearance, his parents, Don and Claudine Ryce, and hundreds of volunteers had handed out fliers and posted billboards advertising a $100,000 reward for his return.
The Ryces also went on national television to plead for the boy's return, and the case was featured on "America's Most Wanted."
"The heavens are crying, it's starting to rain," his mother said at a news conference Saturday outside the family home. "I know this seems appropriate, such a beautiful world, and Jimmy was a flower in it.
"I had hoped there would be a good ending to this story."
Chavez, 28, had been questioned for three days since Jimmy's book bag and school supplies were found in his trailer, about 6 miles from the boy's house.
"The investigation revealed that Juan Carlos Chavez abducted Jimmy and took him to a ranch, where he sexually assaulted, shot, and killed Jimmy, then dismembered the body, putting the remains in several containers," said Metro-Dade Police Cmdr. Al Harper.
On Wednesday, a woman who lives at the ranch where Chavez worked became suspicious after jewelry and a gun disappeared from her home.
She went to search the trailer where he lived in exchange for his ranch work, and found her belongings and the book bag, police said.
Police said Chavez had no prior criminal record.