LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Police arrested a central Kentucky man Friday in connection with the murder of a 6-year-old boy who was bludgeoned to death in his grandfather's garage.

Louis A. "Buck" Ballard, 48, of Paris was arrested shortly after a Bourbon County grand jury indicted him on charges of capital murder and sodomy in the death of Wesley Dylan Mullins of Winchester, Paris police chief Tim Gray said in a phone interview.

Ballard had been living with Mullins' grandfather when the boy was killed Aug. 4 from what an autopsy showed was blunt force trauma to the head. Ballard was interviewed by police and considered a suspect from the beginning, Gray said.

"We'd looked into other people and disqualified them as suspects," Gray said. "He had our attention (from) the first minute, but we had to put together our case."

Gray said U.S marshals assisted with the arrest and authorities had surveyed the Lexington home where Ballard was staying the past two days.

"We didn't want him to slip through the cracks," he said. "He was quite surprised when we came after him."

Gray said prosecutors had urged him not to discuss whether a murder weapon had been located or how much evidence was collected, but he said it was substantial.

Ballard was being held on a $500,000 cash bond in the Bourbon County Detention Center, Gray said.

Mullins' grandfather found the body in the garage behind his home on Aug. 5 and called paramedics. Police immediately obtained a search warrant to examine the home.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)