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Girl found slain in neighbor's basement

Destiny Norton, 5, has been missing for more than a week

Destiny Norton, 5, had been missing for more than a week.

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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- The body of a 5-year-old girl missing for more than a week has been found in the basement of a neighbor's home, and the neighbor was arrested, authorities said.

Craig R. Gregerson, 20, was jailed early Tuesday on suspicion of kidnapping and homicide. It was not immediately known whether he had an attorney.

A probable cause statement filed in Gregerson's arrest says he saw Destiny Norton in her backyard the night of July 16 and opened a gate to lure her into his house.

When she screamed, he squeezed his hand over her mouth to silence her, authorities said.

Destiny "went limp and suspect Gregerson laid her body on a floor," Officer Catherine Schoney wrote in the statement.

Police and FBI agents would not say Tuesday whether they had previously searched Gregerson's house.

Authorities released no information about the cause of death or how long the girl had been dead.

Destiny had just taken a bath, asked to be allowed to go out in the back yard, which has a chain-link fence and gate, when she disappeared, the Norton's housemates said. She vanished in the five or 10 minutes before her father went to check on her, they said.

Hundreds of people had helped in daily searches for Destiny, including 700 on Saturday. A $30,000 reward was offered for information leading to Destiny's recovery.

The searches drew support from the family of Elizabeth Smart, who at age 14 was taken from the bedroom of her Salt Lake City home in June 2002 and was found nine months later with two homeless people.