The little girl was believed to have been snatched by a neighbour while she was riding her bicycle outside her home in Senath, Missouri on August 6.
Victim: The body of three-year-old Breeann Rodriguez has been found dumped in a drainage ditch
Charged: Authorities say neighbour Shawn Morgan has admitted to killing Rodriguez
Charged: Authorities say neighbour Shawn Morgan has admitted to killing Rodriguez
A Missouri State Highway Patrol officer searching by boat found her body near the Floodway Ditches, about eight miles southeast of the girl's family's home.
Authorities say neighbour Shawn Morgan, 43, admitted suffocating Breeann with a trash bag after finding her outside his property and dragging her into his house.
He was arrested on Friday and has been charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence, and faces three counts including first degree murder.
Shawn Morgan covers his head as he is led away from court. Breeann was last seen riding her bike with her five-year-old brother. Search: The child's body was discovered dumped in a drainage ditch near the Mississippi River
Breeann Rodriguez with her father Edgar has been missing since Saturday. Morgan said he then tossed the girl's body in the same trash bag he used to suffocate her and threw it over a railing along Missouri 164 and into a floodway ditch.
Authorities have found the body of missing 3-year-old Breeann Rodriguez in Dunklin County, Mo. after an exhaustive search that began when the young girl went missing Aug. 6.
Shawn Morgan, a 43-year-old steel factory worker and father of three, was quietly arrested around 11 p.m. Friday. Sokoloff said that in addition to first-degree murder, Morgan was charged with armed criminal action and tampering with physical evidence.
The girl's father, Edgar Rodriguez, identified the wheels as belonging to his daughter because he had adjusted the wheels for his daughter, the FBI said.
The little girl was last seen riding her bike with her 5-year-old brother. Senath, where the Rodriguezes live, is a tiny hamlet in the southeast corner of Missouri state with a population of less than 1,600 people and an extremely low crime rate.