VALLEY SPRINGS, CA - For the first time in 15 days, Rippon Road is no longer guarded by deputy or CHP officer. Instead of law enforcement vehicles, only purple ribbons lined the street to remember the little girl who loved the color.
"Everybody speculates and everybody said this and that, but I just prayed," said Mary Gallagher, a friend of the Fowler grandparents.
"I prayed it wasn't him."
Saturday evening, Leila Fowler's 12 year-old brother was arrested on homicide charges in her stabbing death. The boy originally told deputies an intruder broke into the house and killed his sister. After a multi-agency manhunt and two thousand hours canvassing the neighborhood, the Sheriff announced the boy was no longer their only witness, but the person they believe responsible.
"The citizens of Calaveras County can sleep a little better tonight," said Sheriff Gary Kuntz at the Saturday evening press conference.