Finally some closure for a Kern County desert community, one year after a teenager was found killed. Friday morning 40-year-old Phillip Ellison was arrested for the murder and rape of 14-year-old Jamesha Terry in California City.

California City Police say they found evidence early in the case that linked Ellison to the victim, but it's taken this long to get the evidence analyzed. Police Chief Steve Colerick says investigators had evidence from where the body was found, two dumpsters, from Ellison's apartment, and a sample from the suspect himself.

Chief Colerick says although it took a long time to get all the work done, the crime lab "made the case."

'It was a forensic processing of DNA matching, and analysis that ultimately linked Mr. Ellison to the body," says Chief Colerick.

The 14-year-old girl was last seen March 19, 2007 after she got off a school bus. Her body was found 13 days later in the vacant lot -- and the only building nearby is an apartment where Ellison had lived for a couple years.

"We profiled all the tenants, visitors and residents that did live there," Chief Colerick told Eyewitness News. "He was the one that came to the forefront." Why? "Due to the relationship specifically to her."

There is still a memorial set up to Terry at the spot in the vacant lot where her body was found. It's in clear view of the apartment complex where the uncle has been living.

Chief Colerick finds that particularly chilling. The chief says Ellison was living in unit #25 at the time of the teen's death -- but he's since moved to #30.

"He'd moved to a different location where he could step out the front door and look 150-feet to the north and see the area where Jamesha's body was placed," says Colerick.

The chief says because of that, the arresting officers were "prepared for anything," but Ellison was taken into custody without incident.

At the apartment later in the morning, a woman who would only give her name as "Sarah" said her grandchildren had found the victim's body. Sarah also says she's known Ellison for about a year, and can't believe he could be the killer.

"He's been so nice ever since we moved in. He was nice, he's just been a really good person -- like a normal person." Sarah said she had been working as an in-home care-giver for Ellison for about a week.

It's not clear why Ellison may have needed a care-giver, though Chief Colerick said he asked for his cane when he was arrested. The chief also told Eyewitness News Ellison was taken to Kern Medical Center for some reason as he was being booked into the Kern County Jail in Bakersfield.

People in California City say they're relieved someone has been arrested in the year-long investigation. A young boy said he knew Jamesha -- and kids in the community were badly shaken up by her death.

And, Virginia Vasquez says parents have been extra careful since then. "They take their kids to the bus stop, wait for them to come and make sure they're aboard and come off the bus at the right time."

It's expected Ellison will be in court early next week, facing charges of murder and rape. Chief Colerick says waiting a year for the arrest was tough. "We don't want to lose the suspect, you want to serve justice, you want to represent the family of the victim. That's the hardest part is the wait."