Man Jailed on a Rape Charge Is Suspect in Chicago Girl’s Slaying

CHICAGO —  Authorities said Tuesday they have a suspect in the killing and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl in which two young boys had initially been charged.

A police source who spoke on the condition he not be identified said the suspect already was jailed on an unrelated rape charge when DNA tests indicated he assaulted Ryan Harris. The man’s DNA matched semen found on underwear that was stuffed into the girl’s mouth, police said.

Although investigators are uncertain whether Ryan was sexually assaulted before or after she was killed in late July, the man is also considered a suspect in her death.

“It puts him on the scene,” the source said of the DNA results. But, he said, “there’s a lot more that needs to be done.”

Quoting unidentified police sources, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday that when confronted with the evidence, the man admitted having sex with the girl but said he did not kill her. He told police he happened upon Ryan after he saw two unidentified boys near the body, the Sun-Times said.

The man, who was being held at Cook County Jail, has not been charged in the girl’s death.

The killing spawned a national debate about juvenile crime and justice after two boys, ages 7 and 8, were charged. Charges against them were dismissed after the semen was found and medical experts said it was highly unlikely that boys so young could produce semen.

When the charges were dropped, the Cook County state’s attorney said the investigation was continuing and he would not declare the boys innocent.

Ryan’s body was found in a patch of weeds in a vacant lot July 28, a day after she was reported missing. She had been struck in the head, sexually molested and suffocated.

Police said the two boys confessed to knocking Ryan off her bicycle with a rock, dragging her to a wooded area and playing “softly” with her body.