CONNEAUT - Police have found and arrested Josh Gurto, the man wanted for the rape and murder of a 1-year-old Conneaut girl earlier this month.
Gurto was spotted inside a gas station in Ohio Township, Pennsylvania on Oct. 26, leading officials to search the woods near the area. They found an old campsite, but no sign of 37-year-old Josh Gurto.
Police say Gurto was found at a Sheetz gas station in Franklin Park, Pennsylvania and arrested early on Oct. 27. A police officer recognized Gurto in the parking lot and asked him to identify himself. Gurto admitted his identity and was taken into custody without a struggle.
Police found a knife, several maps including one of New Jersey, and a tent on Gurto at the time of his arrest. Police say they believe Gurto has spent the last few weeks hiding in the woods and was planning on heading toward the Pittsburgh area.
Last week, authorities gained photographic evidence of Gurto with an unidentified man in Girard, Pennsylvania. Authorities identified the other man as a Buffalo, New York native who picked Gurto up hitchhiking. That man drove Gurto from Girard to Franklin Park and will not be charged. Authorities aren't sure how Gurto got from Conneaut to Girard.
Gurto allegedly raped and killed 1-year-old Serreniti Sutley, the daughter of his girlfriend, at an apartment complex in Conneaut in early October.
According to police, the girl was found unresponsive and suffering from cardiac arrest in her bedroom by her 22-year-old mother. The preliminary autopsy revealed that Sutley died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Police questioned Gurto the day Sutley died, but say they did not have enough evidence to hold him.
