SCOTTSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A former construction worker scheduled to make his initial court appearance Monday in the murder of a 7-year-old Kentucky girl has five children of his own and is not capable of hurting someone else's, his mother-in-law said.

Timothy Madden, 38, of Scottsville, was arrested Friday by Kentucky State Police and charged with murder, kidnapping, first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy in the death of Gabriella Doolin. Gabriella's death stunned people in this south-central Kentucky town of 5,000 near the Tennessee state line.

The child disappeared during a youth football game she was attending at Allen County-Scottsville High School on Nov. 14 to cheer on her brother. She was found dead less than a half-hour later in a creek. Gabriella, who was called Gabbi, died of manual strangulation and drowning, according to Madden's arrest warrant.

Madden was scheduled to be arraigned in Allen County District Court in Scottsville. He proclaimed his innocence in brief remarks to reporters Friday while being taken in handcuffs from a state police post to a squad car, and again in a jailhouse interview with Louisville TV station WDRB.

"I'm sorry for their loss," he told the station. "I feel sorry for them, but it wasn't me."

The police citation in the case said Madden's DNA collected during the investigation matched that recovered from the child during the autopsy.

Madden's mother-in-law, Linda King, said Monday that Madden was shooting a video of the game.

"When he came home, he looked just like he did when he left," King said. "His clothes weren't messed up. They weren't wet."

Police investigators took the clothes Madden had been wearing at the game and Madden's phone, King said.

State police Trooper B.J. Eaton on Monday declined to disclose what DNA evidence was collected. He said there were no other suspects in the case.

"The person that we've charged we feel is responsible," he said.

Madden went to school with Gabbi's father, Brian Doolin, said King, who described her son-in-law as a devoted family man who has cared for his wife since she suffered multiple strokes earlier this year. His children, from three marriages, range in age from nearly 4 months to 20 years old, she said.

"There's no way this man could have done this vicious whatever because he's not that kind of person," King said. "He loves his kids, he loves his family. He would do anything for anybody that asked him.

"Whoever done this is still out there. And if this community thinks they can rest easy, they can't. Because the monster that done that is still loose."

Gabbi's father had harsh words about the suspect on his Facebook page last week: "This animal should not be walking and breathing," he wrote.

On the day of the child's funeral last week, residents lined the streets holding pink and blue balloons that they released as the hearse carrying her body drove by. Pink ribbons and balloons are still on display, including on some mailboxes near the double-wide trailer where Madden lives with his family a few miles outside of town.