“My God. He knew all along.”

That was Robin Goen’s reaction when she realized the man charged with killing 9-year-old Skylar Jade Dials was helping police search for the girl when she disappeared Friday.

Shane Clifton Collett, 40, actually came up to Goen to ask her “Have you seen a little girl?”

But police say Collett knew all along.

“I could not believe he was the one out heading the search,” Goen told the AJC.

Neighbors in the small community in a rural section of Griffin still can’t believe one of their own could kidnap and kill a little girl.

"It's just devastating. It's devastating for the little girl, for the family, for everyone involved," another neighbor, who did not want to be identified, told Channel 2 Action news. "He was not one of our long-term persons in our community."

Collett is in jail without bond. Police arrested him Friday evening a few hours before state game wardens located Skylar’s body behind a pile of logging debris.

Police are not releasing how or when Dials died. More details are expected to be released Wednesday. The state’s child protective agency said it had previous contacts with Skylar and members of her family but details were not available over the weekend.

Skylar was a fourth-grader at Orrs Elementary School in Griffin. She moved to the Williamson community several months ago with her aunt and uncle, identified by neighbors and public records as Renae and Robert Lupes.

A small memorial filled with balloons and stuffed animals now sits at the end of the family’s driveway.

Skylar, who had a hearing impairment, was supposed to spend Friday night with a friend in the neighborhood. But the girl’s mom called about 4 p.m. to say she was missing.