Police on Friday arrested a homeless 17-year-old boy in the death of Haruka Weiser of Portland at the University of Texas after surveillance video showed him on campus with a woman's bike and a duffel bag believed to contain some of the student's belongings.

Weiser's roommate had reported her missingwhen she didn't return to their dorm room. Weiser's body was found Tuesday in a creek by the Austin university's football stadium.

Meechaiel Criner

Police believe Weiser, 18, was killed the night she disappeared, said Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo.

Meechaiel Criner was booked into a Travis County jail and will be charged with murder later Friday afternoon, Acevedo said at a news conference. Criner could face other charges, he said.

"We are very certain the subject ... in custody is the suspect responsible for the death of this beautiful young women," Acevedo said.

Police tracked down Criner after releasing surveillance video of a man in dark clothing walking with a bike and a bag on campus the night Weiser went missing.

Criner was identified when firefighters and a resident recognized him in the video as a teenager who apparently had set trash on fire Monday near campus. Firefighters had taken Criner to a homeless shelter that day and kept the bike he had for safekeeping. A woman who called 911 about the fire also contacted police after making the connection, Acevedo said.

Detectives took the bike from the firefighters and questioned Criner at the homeless shelter, the chief said. That's when they found the duffel bag with items tied to Weiser, he said.

"We were able to detain him for tampering with evidence and questioned him regarding this incident," Acevedo said.

Acevedo told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the location and timing of the teenager's appearance on campus "and a lot of things we'd rather not talk about" indicate Criner is responsible for the slaying of Weiser.

The police chief said he didn't have any indication about motive and continued to ask the public for information about the Criner's whereabouts in the days leading to Weiser's death.

An autopsy showed that Weiser had been assaulted, but police have refused to release further details about her death, except to say that the route she took from her dorm to the drama building often passed Waller Creek, where her body was found.

Weiser's mother sent a message through the police chief thanking police, the University of Texas community and anyone involved in the investigation.

Acevedo choked up as he relayed her message to tell people to "take care of themselves" and ""go home and hug your children -- not once but twice."

Meanwhile, President Greg L. Fenves said the university was providing support to the Weiser family.

"I can't imagine a more heroic, courageous and strong family under circumstances that no family should ever have to face," Fenves said.

The arrest, he said, "brings a tremendous sense of relief to our students, our faculty, our staff and the entire University of Texas community."

Hundreds of people turned out for a vigil Thursday evening at the campus, home to nearly 51,000 students.

Weiser was a 2015 graduate of the Arts & Communications Magnet Academy in Beaverton, said Principal Michael Johnson. Faculty and former classmates at the grade 6-12 magnet school learned of her disappearance on Wednesday.

Weiser belonged to Dance West, a student dance troupe that performed with the Oregon Symphony a few times a year, said Julane Stites, the group's director. She was in Austin on a full dance scholarship - the largest ever for a graduate of the magnet school, Stites said.

US Marshals and Lone Star Fugitive Task Force walking UT murder suspect into APD HQ after being apprehended. PIO4 pic.twitter.com/9Btr6ymFl3 — Austin Police Dept (@Austin_Police) April 8, 2016

Weiser performed with The Portland Ballet through its Masters and Curriculum programs from 2013 to 2015. Weiser also had hopes of pursuing a career in medicine, possibly becoming a doctor, or other science, a family member told the Austin American-Statesman.

Weiser came to the attention of the Texas university in 2014, while she was performing with Dance West at the National High School Dance Festival in Miami, and faculty began recruiting her immediately, Fenves has said.

"Will help them (Weiser's family) however we can to honor Haruka's life and what she stood for," Fenves said, "and to make her death an occasion to look at the safety of our community and others and to find some meaning behind an otherwise meaningless and senseless death."

In response to this week's slaying, the university has expanded programs in which police escort students across campus to ensure their safety. School officials also are urging students to walk in groups and avoid walking at night or while distracted with cellphones or headphones.

Weiser's death is the first on-campus homicide since August 1966, when Charles Whitman stood atop the UT Tower and gunned down 14 people in the nation's first mass shooting.

-- Staff and wire reports