WESTMINSTER, COLO. -- After sifting through thousands of tips and combing the Westminster area police have arrested 17-year-old Austin Reed Sigg in connection with the Jessica Ridgeway case.

A high-placed source in law enforcement told our Denver sister station that Sigg confessed to kidnapping and killing the little girl.

The source said Sigg told police he drove by Jessica Ridgeway on the morning of October 5th, turned his car around, grabbed her, brought her into the car where he hog-tied her and then he strangled her to death.

"We hope and pray that this arrest gives them some measure of closure in dealing with this horrible tragedy and loss that they have suffered," Chief Lee Birk, Wesminster PD

Jessica disappeared October 5th after leaving for school.

Her body was found five days later dismembered in an Arvada open space area.

"It's all I have within in me to not want to just burn him," Donna Moss, Jessica's Great Grandmother said.

Wedensday's formal arrest comes two days after police said Jessica's abduction was linked to the may 28 attempted abduction of a 22-year-old runner at Ketner Lake.

records show Austin Sigg is currently attending Arapahoe Community College in Littleton and that he is a graduate of Standley Lake High School in Westminster.

Acquaintances said the teen hung out in the high school cafeteria's "goth corner," and was interested in mortuary science.

"We hope that knowing an arrest has been made can cause our community to rest a little easier and maybe feel a little safer," Chief Lee Birk, of the Westminster Police Department said.

Sigg's first court appearance is Thursday morning at 8 a.m.