Sources: 17-year-old arrested in killing of UT freshman Haruka Weiser

A 17-year-old man is in custody in the death of a University of Texas student, and police intend to pursue charges against him Friday, the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV have leaed.

Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed the development in the investigation into who killed 18-year-old Haruka Weiser, a UT freshman from Portland.

The sources would not identify the teen because he is not yet charged. Austin police are hoping to schedule a mid-moing news conference to update the public.

It is unclear if the 17-year-old suspect is the man seen in grainy security video police released Thursday in asking for the public’s help to find the killer.

However, sources said Austin firefighters provided a crucial tip to police after responding to a small fire involving a backpack and may have recovered some of Weiser’s belongings. It is not clear how police may have linked the teen to the fire.

UT police found Weiser’s body around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday along Waller Creek while investigating a missing persons report a day earlier.

Police have said she was last seen leaving a campus building and was traveling on foot back to her dorm when she vanished.

Weiser was found dead in Waller Creek on the UT campus Tuesday. The arrest came hours after Austin police revealed video of a “person of interest” in connection with Weiser’s death and offered a $15,000 reward for information in the case.

Austin Assistant Police Chief Troy Gay said Thursday that Weiser was last seen shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday leaving the Winship Drama Building. Gay said she texted her roommate as she headed toward her dorm in the 300 block of East 21st Street. Her classmates said the Waller Creek trail was the route she would take home.

Weiser never arrived at her dorm or made it to class the next moing, and a roommate reported Weiser as missing on Monday, Gay said.

Gay said UT police tried to find Weiser through their “normal protocol” of talking to friends and family before a UT officer found her remains in Waller Creek behind the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The Travis County medical examiner’s office ruled the case a homicide but hasn’t released a cause of death.