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28-year-old Curtis Lavelle Vance, of Marianna, was taken into custody at about 11:25 p.m. The arrest was within an hour-and-a-half of police releasing his name and photo to local media.
Vance was arrested without incident in the 2300 block of Cross Street. At a news conference Thursday night, police said he should be considered armed and dangerous, however, police chief Stuart Thomas says he was not armed at the time.
Police said they are "very confident" they have the right man in custody, however they would not specify what lead them to Vance. They would also not say if Vance knew Pressly.
"This has been several days in the making," Thomas said. "We've looked at a lot of different other things in the course of the investigation. The information that lead us to obtain the warrant for this individual came within the last week."
The arrest comes two weeks after police said they were processing evidence and waiting for a name to come back.
Pressly's mother found her in her bed, brutally beaten on October 20th. Police have said this was a random robbery, and her purse was taken from the home. She died October 25th.
An employee at a Shell station downtown confirmed her credit card was used within hours after the attack. Police combed the Heights and Cantrell areas in the following days looking for clues.
Pressly's father, Guy Cannady spoke to the media before the arrest was made.
"It's very hard to take, knowing that's the last person she saw alive," he said.
Police said Vance was traveling with a woman and three children. They were located last night, but were not with him when he was arrested.
