WESTVILLE – DeAnne Tuggle was at work Saturday, trying to work through the news that her daughter's murderer may have been found.

Chicago police arrested 46-year-old William McIntosh of Chicago in the 2007 death of Marlaina "Niki" Reed, 17, who was living wherever she could find a roof in Chicago at the time of her death.

Reed went to junior high school in Georgetown.

Tuggle cried throughout a brief interview, but said "some of the crying is happiness."

"I feel a little better. At least he's off the damn streets. There's a little closure," she said.

Tuggle, a longtime employee of Stefani's Cut Rate Drive-In in Westville, felt it was better to come in that day.

She said she hoped she could get further closure by seeing the Chicago man convicted.

"I'd like to go to the trial. My cousin said he might help me get up there" to Chicago, she said.

Tuggle said she hadn't seen her daughter, who loved unicorns, for a while after she moved to Chicago. Reed lived in group homes but was also a runaway.

Her body was found in 2007 tied with cords and stuffed into a cardboard box, according to the Associated Press.

Police said she'd been strangled.

"He can't hurt anybody else," Tuggle said of the alleged murderer.

Chicago police told the AP that McIntosh's DNA was linked to the crime. Someone had written "Evelyn" – McIntosh's mother's name – on Reed's left leg. Reed was born in Chandler, Ariz. She lived in Chicago about two years.