Sheriff: Cell phone tracking led to arrest of Sumpter Twp couple in Georgia

(WJBK) - A couple suspected of killing a 4-year-old girl is no longer on the run tonight. 

Candice Diaz and Brad Fields are under arrest after being tracked down in Georgia. The US Marshals Service along with deputies from the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office captured the couple this afternoon.

Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said as soon as he heard what the pair was accused of, he made sure his people were on it. 

"I have been a sheriff for 17 years," he said. "I have seen a lot of bad crimes but this ranks right at the top with some of the worst."

Diaz, 24, and Fields, 28, were captured. They are accused of killing 4-year-old Gabby Barrett - who was found inside their Sumpter Township mobile home burned and beaten.

It is a case so heinous that it became a priority for Sheriff Paulk.

"We had an abundance of people on this thing as soon as we got notice they were in our area," he said. "We put every available person out looking for them trying to apprehend them because it is such a bad crime."

Fields and Diaz were arrested Tuesday afternoon on I-75 in Lake Park, Georgia near the state line of Florida.

Sheriff Paulk says the couple would periodically turn on their cell phone to use it - which allowed investigators to ping their location.

A Wayne County woman came forward shortly before their capture saying she unknowingly met the fugitives last week. She had them notarize an affidavit and claimed she felt uneasy from the moment they met.

"I was kind of weirded out because there was satanic symbolism all over the walls, witchcraft, stars, Ouija boards," she said. "It was just get in do the job get out."

Relatives tell FOX 2 this week although the couple both had criminal records and a violent on and off relationship of six years - they never had reason to believe Gabby was in danger.

What led up to the little girl's last moments is still under investigation. The Georgia sheriff is just glad the couple has been caught.

"Let's put it this way, I have five children, 24 grandchildren so what do you think I thought of this crime," he said. "One of the worst crimes you can do in the world is anything to a child, it’s terrible."

Paulk said the two suspects will be extradited to Michigan. Relatives of Fields said that he had a grandfather in Florida and the couple was arrested a few miles from the state line.