• Neighbor charged with murder, rape of Jersey Bridgeman, 6

    Benton County Sheriff's Office via AP

    Zachary Holly was booked on charges capital murder, kidnapping and residential burglary in the Nov. 20 death of Jersey Bridgeman, 6, in Bentonville, Ark. on Monday.

    By Kari Huus, NBC News

    Zachary Holly, the Arkansas man charged Wednesday with the rape and murder of 6-year-old Jersey Bridgeman, had been babysitting the little girl the night before her disappearance, as he had many times before, according to a court document released after his first hearing Wednesday.


    Jersey's death came just months after a high-profile child abuse case in which her father and stepmother, David Bridgeman and Jana Bridgeman, convicted of chaining the girl to a dresser at night. Jana Bridgeman is serving a 12-year prison sentence, plus three years for a probation revocation. David Bridgeman is serving an 18-year prison sentence.

    Jersey had since moved in with her mother, DesaRae Bridgeman, and began kindergarten this fall in Bentonville, about 215 miles northwest of Little Rock. They lived next door to Zachary Holly, 28, and his wife Amanda, friends of the family who frequently babysat Jersey and her 2-year-old sister, as they did on Nov. 19, according to interviews described in the affidavit of probable cause released Wednesday.

    When DesaRae came home from work at about 11 that night, she went to get the girls, and after she chatted with the Hollys for a few minutes, Zachary carried Jersey to her home, while DesaRae carried the younger sister — and they placed them in the same bed, the document says.

    Jersey was reported missing the morning of Nov. 20. Minutes after a search for her began, Jersey's body was discovered in an abandoned house two doors away.

    The probable cause document released to the public is heavily redacted, but it reveals that the crime lab in Bentonville worked through the Thanksgiving holiday to develop a DNA profile from sperm cells found on Jersey's body.

    Holly called Bentonville police on Nov. 23, according to the affidavit, and later showed up at a station, gave a statement — the details of which are entirely blacked out in the document — and then was booked on charges of capital murder, kidnapping, rape and residential burglary.

    In Wednesday's hearing at the First Circuit Court in Bentonville, Ark., he was denied bond, NBC affiliate KARK-TV reported.

     

    Bentonville Police Department via AP

    Undated photo of Jersey Bridgeman.

    One neighbor, Julie Pickard, told The Associated Press Tuesday that Holly wept the day Jersey's body was found. 

    "He was crying for a long time," said Pickard.

    The fact that Jersey was abused by parental figures and a neighbor is suspected in her death fits into an unfortunate pattern, according to Beverly Engle executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Benton County in Arkansas.

    "Ninety-six percent of people who offend on children are people that the child knows. We all have been so trained in the stranger-danger aspect, which certainly does happen, but I think the reality is that’s about 4 percent," said Engle, who interviewed Jersey last year when allegations of abuse against her father and stepmother surfaced.

    "Jersey was a precious, adorable child and it is very grieving to know even in the moments before her death what she may have experienced, knowing this person or trusting this person,” Engle said.

    'A little old soul': Girl found dead after dad, stepmom jailed

    Holly is being held in Benton County Jail, and on Tuesday was attacked by another inmate, jail Capt. Chris Sparks told The AP Wednesday. He said Holly wasn't seriously injured, and that the other inmate, who was in jail on a parole violation, could face charges.

    "Obviously this case has gotten a lot of exposure in the media and all the inmates know what he's in for ..." Sparks said. "We're going to do our best to try and keep him safe, just like we do every other inmate."

    Holly was not required to speak at the hearing, and KARK reported that he remained silent as his lawyers, including public defender Jay Saxton, asked to review the decision to deny bond.

    This article includes reporting by NBC News' Elizabeth Chuck and The Associated Press. 

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  • Neighbor arrested in murder of Arkansas girl found in chains

    By The Associated Press

    Benton County Sheriff's Office via AP

    Booking photo of Zachary Holly.

    A neighbor has been arrested as a suspect in the killing of a 6-year-old Arkansas girl whose high-profile child abuse case last year sent her father and stepmother to prison, police said.

    Jersey Bridgeman was reported missing the morning of Nov. 20. Minutes after a search for her began, Jersey's body was discovered in an abandoned house two doors from her home in Bentonville.

    Zachary Holly, 28, who lives next door to where Jersey was staying, is being held in the Benton County Jail on charges of capital murder, kidnapping and residential burglary, police Chief Jon Simpson said Monday night.

    Simpson said Holly will have a bail and probable cause hearing Wednesday, during which a probable cause affidavit will be released. At that point, "many questions related to this investigation and arrest will be answered," Simpson said.

    He did not release details of how Jersey died or what led police to Holly. Simpson said work by the State Crime Lab helped speed the arrest.

    Jersey's short life was checkered with discomfort. About a year before her death, her father and stepmother were charged with abuse after investigators discovered they had chained her to a dresser to stop her wandering around the house at night. David Bridgeman, Jersey's father, told investigators he restrained his daughter to prevent her from getting into medication and other things around the house.

    Courtesy of Bentonville Police Department via AP

    Undated photo of Jersey Bridgeman.

    David and Jana Bridgeman, Jersey's stepmother, pleaded guilty in June to false imprisonment, permitting abuse of a minor and endangering the welfare of a minor.

    Jana Bridgeman is serving a 12-year prison sentence, plus three years for a probation revocation. David Bridgeman is serving an 18-year prison sentence.

    Police Capt. Justin Thompson said there was "no reason ... for the community to be worried at this point," but otherwise revealed little more about the homicide investigation in Bentonville some 215 miles northwest of Little Rock.

    Thompson said the girl died sometime between midnight and 6:53 a.m. on the day her body was found. He would not say who called 911 to report her missing. Investigators later searched the home where she lived and the house where her body was found, as well as the homes in between.

    'A little old soul': Girl found dead after dad, stepmom jailed

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  • 'A little old soul': Girl, 6, found dead after dad, stepmom jailed for keeping her chained

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    A six-year-old girl whose father and stepmother were sent to prison for keeping her chained up has been found dead, authorities said.

    NBC station KNWA reported that the FBI and police in Bentonville, Arkansas, were investigating the suspected homicide of Jersey Bridgeman.


    Her father David Bridgeman was given an 18-year prison sentence in 2011 after pleading guilty to false imprisonment, permitting abuse of a minor and endangering the welfare of a minor, The Associated Press reported. Prison records show he has a tattoo that says "Jersey."

    The AP said Jersey’s stepmother Jana Bridgeman, also identified as Jana Slinkard in court records, admitted the same charges and was given a 12-year prison sentence, plus three years for a probation revocation, according to online Department of Correction records.

    It reported that it was not clear who the girl had recently been living with or who reported her missing.

    'Best investigation we can'
    KNWA printed a press release from Bentonville Police Department that said Jersey was reported missing at 6:43 a.m. local time (7:43 a.m. ET) Tuesday.

    “A neighborhood search resulted in the discovery of the child's body within a vacant house,” just 10 minutes later, the police statement said.

    It added that certain details of the case were being withheld “to maintain the integrity of this investigation.”

    "It's just a matter of trying to do the best investigation we can and cover all the bases," Bentonville Police Chief Jon Simpson told KNWA.

    "I think if you look at any individual, a child included, by the time you add up all the people they know, all the contacts they have, if you did it for yourself, you can see how extensive that might be, and it's really no different with a child. So, that's some of the areas that we're trying to cover,” he added.

    Jersey 'such a delight'
    More than 100 people gathered to mourn the child at a candlelight vigil Tuesday at the Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County near Bentonville, the center's executive director, Beverly Engle, told the AP.

    "There was a unique quality about Jersey," she said. "A little old soul, but such a delight."

    Read more from NBC station KNWA

    Engle told the AP that Jersey was interviewed last year at the center when the abuse allegations were reported to police in nearby Rogers.

    According to a court document, the girl told officers she slept on the floor in the same room as her father and stepmother.

    "She said that Jana and David chain her to the dresser because she had gotten up and eaten some pies, cereal, and bread," Rogers Police Detective Larry Taylor wrote in the court affidavit, the AP reported.

    He added that the girl "stated that they put a belt around her waist so that she could not get up and get any food."

    The case came to light after a woman who was staying with the couple contacted police about possible child abuse, according to court records.

    Dog collar
    That woman said she found the girl chained to a dresser with a silver chain and what appeared to be a dog collar.

    David Bridgeman told an investigator that his daughter got into medication and other things around the house, so he and his wife decided to chain her to the dresser at night so she couldn't wander off, according to court records.

    "He said that he thinks she may be sleepwalking and that they discussed buying a child gate, but since he does not have a job, they could not afford to buy one at that time," Taylor, the detective, wrote in the court affidavit.

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    The father said he cut a belt to make it fit around his daughter's ankle and added a lock on the chain after she pulled it off, according to court records.

    At some point, his daughter complained that the collar hurt her leg, so he chained her by the waist instead, court records indicate.

    "It should be noted that the chain that David used was approximately one to two feet in length and appeared to be a dog choke collar," Taylor wrote in the affidavit. 

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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