WESTMINSTER — One week after 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway was reported missing, grim-faced state and local law enforcement officials announced Friday that a body found Wednesday was hers.

“The focus has changed from the search for Jessica to a mission of justice for Jessica,” said Westminster Police Chief Lee Birk, with “a great deal of sorrow” in his heart.

“There is a predator at large in our community,” the chief said.

Birk said investigators are putting all efforts into finding the killer and protecting the community and its children, whom he called “our most precious commodity.”

The body, found near Pattridge Park Open Space in Arvada, was positively identified through DNA tests by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Officials had said they needed the tests for positive identification because the body was “not intact.”

Jim Yacone with the FBI said, “The commitment with investigators will not waver. Our commitment to seek justice will only grow stronger.”

A public crisis-counseling center at the Wells Fargo Building, 7878 Wadworth Blvd., was open until 8 p.m. on Friday and will be open again from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday to help advise worried parents and counsel anyone who needs someone to talk to.

When Kimberly Bowman heard about Jessica’s disappearance, she started a Facebook page devoted to her search and to create a common place where the community could gather.

After the news Friday, Bowman and others quickly organized a meeting place and command center at 9410 Wadsworth Parkway to comfort community members and many of the hundreds of volunteers who had been searching for the fifth-grader.

Counselors from the crisis- counseling center joined the crowd, as did community pastors.

Bowman said she and others are also organizing a balloon release Saturday.

“We had already started planning the balloon-wish release. Now we’re just turning it into a celebration of her life,” Bowman said.

Markers will be distributed so that people can write messages on the balloons “to send to her in heaven,” she said.

The balloon-release event will take place at 2 p.m. at the same location — which is in the parking lot of an American Furniture Warehouse.

Bowman said organizers would welcome more donations of balloons and food for the event.

“As long as we need to be here, we’re going to be here for people,” Bowman said. “It’s been hard, but hopefully together we can find something good to come out of this.”

Officials did not delve into details of the tools they are using to locate the perpetrator and would not say if the case is being entered into databases to compare with other unsolved crimes.

Yacone urged everyone to continue reporting tips about the case. Tips are being collected at 303-658-4336.

Westminster police spokesman Trevor Materasso reiterated a plea made Thursday for more information, asking the public to look at co-workers, friends and even family members who might fit the behavioral profile of a suspect.

“You are familiar with your neighborhood,” Materasso said. “You will recognize when something is out of place. Call us immediately.”

“This is not the news we wanted to hear,” Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey said.

He said the investigation is the priority and that officials would not jeopardize that.

“The most important thing we can do now is the investigation, the apprehension and the prosecution of the person that did this,” Storey said.

Birk, Yacone and Storey did not take questions at the news conference.

FBI spokesman Dave Joly said, “We will not rest until this person is caught.”

He added that officials need the community to be “engaged and aware.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper released a statement after the news conference: “This is an unthinkable end to an unthinkable crime in our community.

“It is with a profound sense of sorrow that we learned of Jessica Ridgeway’s death. On behalf of all of Colorado, we offer our deepest sympathies to her family and friends. The Colorado Department of Public Safety and other federal, state and local agencies involved in the case will continue to provide all of the support they can as the investigation continues.”

Shortly before 5 p.m., televisions throughout the metro area blared warnings announcing an Amber Alert update: Nearly a week after it was issued, the Westminster Police Department had officially canceled the Amber Alert for Jessica.

Jessica was last seen at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 5 as she left her home on Moore Street in Westminster. She was to meet with classmates at nearby Chelsea Park to walk to Witt Elementary, but she never arrived at school that morning. Investigators have ruled out Jessica’s parents as possible suspects in the 10-year-old’s disappearance.

Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or twitter.com/yeseniarobles

How to help

Westminster police spokesman Trevor Materasso says they are still encouraging witnesses to come forward and call the tip line at 303-658-4336.