A look back: Kidnapper arrested in Coolidge

George Richard Horner III, the sex offender accused of kidnapping a 6-year-old girl from her Rancho El Dorado home yesterday morning (see related story), was arrested by Pinal County Sheriff's deputies this morning at approximately 8 a.m.

"It was a long, long, long night," Sheriff Chris Vasquez said about the hours preceding the arrest.

According to Vasquez, law enforcement officers made telephone contact with the suspect yesterday afternoon after receiving the suspect's cell phone number from the victim's mother. Vasquez said Detective Jim Rimmer was able to establish rapport and trust with Horner through periodic phone and text messages throughout the day.

The suspect failed to show up at a scheduled 1 a.m. rendezvous, however, and broke off communication around 2:15 a.m.

Horner text messaged the detective again around 6:30 a.m. and agreed to meet at the Coolidge Municipal Airport at 8 a.m. Vasquez said the suspect was aware of the severity of the issue and was nervous about being harmed by law enforcement when he turned himself in. Rimmer met Horner and, with an armed deputy hidden in Rimmer's vehicle and deputies in two trailing vehicles, arrested Horner without incident.