Neighbors: Ark. man arrested in girl's death cried

Police in Bentonville arrested Zachary Holly, 28, on Monday — about a week after Jersey Bridgeman's body was found next to the mobile home where Holly lived.

Holly is being held in the Benton County Jail on capital murder, kidnapping and residential burglary charges. He is due in court Wednesday, when public defender Jay Saxton said he expects the judge to appoint a lawyer with the public defender's commission to represent Holly.

Jersey, whose father and stepmother are in prison for chaining her to a dresser last year, was found dead just minutes after someone reported her missing on Nov. 20.

One neighbor, Julie Pickard, said Tuesday that Holly wept before authorities brought Jersey's body out of the vacant home.

"He was crying for a long time," said Pickard, who lives on the other side of the home where Jersey's body was found.

Later that day, Pickard said, police knocked on her door and told her to let them know if she saw a man wearing Mountain Dew pajama pants.

"(Holly) was wearing Mountain Dew pajama pants," Pickard said.

Bentonville Police Chief Jon Simpson wouldn't release details Tuesday of how Jersey died or what led police to Holly, nor would he discuss possible motives.

No one answered the door Tuesday at the mobile home where police say Holly lived with his wife. A child's bicycle rested on a patch of grass near the home in the city that's about 215 miles northwest of Little Rock.

Simpson told The Associated Press the couple didn't have any children but that Holly's wife has a child who is "pretty much the same age as our victim." Simpson described Holly as "an acquaintance" and a friend of Jersey's family.