Police have found the body of a 10-year-old girl who went missing about a week ago on her way to school in Tongyeong, south Gyeongsang Province, police officials said Sunday.

According to the investigators, a 44-year-old neighbor and repeat sex offender is in police custody as a suspect. The suspect has confessed to kidnapping and murdering the girl, and her body was discovered in a sack on a mountain some 10 kilometers away from her home, where he said it would be.

The police said they were trying to determine the exact cause of death, although it looks like she had been strangled.

A fourth-grader, the victim, Han A-ram, was last seen at around 7:30 a.m. on July 16, leaving her home to catch a bus to school. Her parents reported her missing later that day.

Police later found her mobile phone inside a drain at a nearby bus stop.

Police went public with the investigation on Friday, seeking clues from the public, after over a hundred investigators combed the neighborhood to no avail.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)