Michael Neal Harvey, suspected in the murder of Valerie Hamilton, was arrested Monday morning in Niagara Falls, NY.

Harvey, a 34-year-old convicted sex offender with a history of criminal activity, was taken into custody without incident by agents of the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service.

Detectives with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department were en route to New York to interview Harvey and to work on extraditing him, a CMPD spokesman said.

Hamilton, a 23-year-old student at Central Piedmont Community College and the daughter of Concord police Chief Merl Hamilton, was last seen leaving the Thomas Street Tavern on Wednesday, Sept. 15. Police found her body Saturday night in a self-storage unit on Monroe Road.

Authorities have not determined how Hamilton died. CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe told reporters Monday that detectives found Hamilton’s body wrapped in some sort of material.

Monroe said information from witnesses "and some exhaustive work by detectives" guided CMPD much of the way.

Harvey was taken into custody at a residence in the town where his parents and several other family members live.

Police also announced Monday afternoon that Niagra Falls officials had recovered a white 1996 Chevy Blazer that Harvey was suspected of stealing in Charlotte.

Monroe said police believe Hamilton was killed either at Harvey's home on East 13th Street in north Charlotte, in a room at an East Independence Boulevard hotel where Harvey stayed late last week, or at the storage locker site in the 4500 block of Monroe Road.

Harvey's arrest came hours after Hamilton’s father, joined by Concord Mayor Scott Padgett, asked viewers of ABC's "Good Morning America" to help Charlotte-Mecklenburg police catch the man suspected of killing his daughter.

"I just want to get this guy now," Merl Hamilton said, his voice breaking several times. "I want to ask my law enforcement brothers and sisters across the country to help with this.

"I'm trying to stay strong. They know what it means, because the cameras are on, but they took my daughter, guys.

"Play it straight, play it by the rules, but you all get out there and find this guy for me. When it comes back my way, I'll pay you back."

Using images taken from a video surveillance cameras, police on Friday released a description of a man seen leaving the Thomas Street bar with Hamilton.

He was described as a light-skinned white male with short dark hair with some white in it. He was clean-shaven, about 5-feet-10 and 165 pounds. He was said to be in his mid- to late 30s with no facial hair.

According to the Mecklenburg Sheriff’s website, Harvey has been arrested at least eight times since 2007, charged with counts ranging from breaking and entering to failure to register as a sex offender. He was arrested at least twice in March, charged with breaking and entering, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm by a felon and driving with a revoked license.
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The Charlotte Observer contributed to this report.

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