Tips from the public helped police arrest a suspect nearly four years after a young woman’s murder.

Police have charged Kyllan James Ellis, 28, of Lorette, with second-degree murder for his alleged role in the death of Simone Sanderson in late August 2012.

“Members of the public coming forward was critical in solving this case,” Sgt. Wes Rommel said Tuesday.

Sanderson’s body was discovered in a vacant lot on the corner of Main Street and Burrows Avenue on Sept. 2, 2012.

An autopsy revealed she died of blunt-force trauma, and had likely been attacked.

“Kyllan was known to sexually exploit women he believed worked in the sex trade,” said Deputy Chief Danny Smyth.

Police believe Ellis was driving near Main and Burrows early Aug. 27 when he encountered Sanderson on the street. They were likely strangers, Smyth said.

“A confrontation occurred between them, which escalated into physical violence and Simone Sanderson sustained blunt-force trauma at the hands of Ellis, which resulted in her death,” he said.

“Afterwards, investigators believe that Ellis dumped her body into an empty lot on the southwest corner of Main and Burrows. He covered her body with cardboard in an attempt to conceal her from public view, then fled the scene.”

Police would not say if Sanderson had been sexually assaulted but they did obtain DNA evidence at the scene. They took DNA samples from Ellis on Monday night but won’t know if the samples match for a few weeks.

Police became suspicious of Ellis’s potential involvement in January 2014, then contacted him again that March.

“At that point, Mr. Ellis was one of a number of people who had come up in the investigation we were following up at the time,” Rommel said. “It wasn’t until the summer of 2015 when we received further information regarding Mr. Ellis’s involvement. At that time, it’s probably fair to say we began focusing the investigation and certainly looking at him in more depth from that point forward.”

Earlier this month, police issued a public plea to help find a small, two-door vehicle that they believed was at the scene. Ellis owns such a vehicle, Rommel confirmed.

Police notified the family of the arrest Tuesday morning. Rommel said the family finally got some “closure.”