04:55 PM MST on Friday, March 18, 2005

Staff report

The Citrus County Sheriff's Office announced late Friday that John Couey admitted to investigators that he abducted 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford and subsequently took her life.

Couey was previously announced as a person of interest in the Lunsford case but not charged with the girl's disappearance.

FOX News reports that Couey was arrested on parole violation charges at a homeless shelter in Augusta, Georgia on Thursday and questioned in the disappearance, law enforcement sources said.

Couey left Florida on or about March 4, about a week after the girl's disappearance, after telling relatives that police would be looking for him.

Jessica, a third grader, was last seen when she went to bed Feb. 23 in the home where she lived with her father and grandparents. She was discovered missing the next morning, with an unlocked door and a missing stuffed animal serving as evidence of her disappearance.