Suspect charged in child’s hanging death

NAVARRO MILLS, Texas (AP) — An apparent stranger to a 6-year-old found hanged in her family’s garage was charged with capital murder, authorities said Friday, freshly jolting a community that had been told the main suspect knew the girl.

Pam Gray, who lives behind Hanna Mack’s home, said she had seen Shaun Earl Arender walking around the neighborhood after the first-grader’s Sept. 10 death. She said she “nearly fainted” when police announced his arrest Friday.

Arender, 19, was already in jail on unrelated burglary and drug possession charges. A DNA sample taken from the shirt the girl was wearing was entered into a Texas Department of Public Safety database Wednesday, and it indicated Arender was a possible match, according to the arrest affidavit.

Bond was set at $2.5 million. It wasn’t immediately clear if Arender had a lawyer who could comment.