Father's coworker, family friend jailed in connection with kidnapping, death of 5-year-old girl

WATKINS, Minnesota -- A Minnesota man is behind bars on suspicion of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of a coworker's five-year-old daughter. 

Twenty-six-year-old Zachary Todd Anderson of Monticello, is being held in the Crow Wing County Jail in the death of Alayna Ertl, who was reported missing from her home in the central Minnesota town of Watkins Saturday morning, August 20th. Her disappearance led authorities to issue an Amber Alert.

Ertl's body was found nine hours later in a rural area near Motley in Cass County. Authorities arrested Anderson in the same county.

"This is not a stranger type situation," Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze said. "The suspect is a coworker and family friend of the child's father."

Sheriff Cruze first got the call the child was missing around 10:00 a.m. Saturday.

"All morning we followed up on leads and this has been a very fluid investigation and it continues to be so," Sheriff Cruze said.

Multiple law enforcement agencies from across the state of Minnesota, and members of the public got to work immediately -- keeping an eye out for Anderson and Ertl.

Sheriff Cruze said it was tips from the public that eventually revealed the unimaginable.

"The body of Alayna Ertl was located. The suspect is in custody and our vehicle has been recovered as well," Sheriff Cruze said.

With that, the Watkins, Minnesota neighborhood began another devastating chapter of grief -- rallying around the Ertl family as investigators work to uncover what led to the five-year-old girl's death.

"We have no known predatory sexual offender information on him or anything like that. We have no known motive. We are at loss as to why this happened at this time," Sheriff Cruze said.

A search of online court records has revealed Anderson's only run-ins with law enforcement have been over relatively minor traffic violations.

Although he is in custody, investigators still have a lot of questions about how this happened. They are asking for information from the public -- specifically anyone who may have seen Anderson or Ertl on August 20th.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for those wishing to donate in Ertl’s honor and help with funeral expenses.