The aunt of a 15-year-old girl whose 2013 killing remains unsolved said she's unsure how she feels after police made an arrest in connection with her niece's death.

"I'm a little bit angry, yes. But at the same time I'm glad," said Josie Anderson. "Shocked, in disbelief, but it is what it is, right? I mean justice will be justice, right?"

Leah Anderson was 15 when she went missing in Gods Lake Narrows in January 2013. Her body was found two days later on a snowmobile trail in the remote northern Manitoba community of around 1,300 people.

She had been beaten and disfigured so violently that people initially believed she had been mauled by dogs.

RCMP arrested a 23-year-old man from Gods Lake Narrows on Wednesday.

Police did not release the name of the suspect because charges have not yet been laid. Last week, police said Anderson's killer was known to her.

"I don't want to be angry, I don't want to be upset," Josie Anderson said. "I'm really really hurt, yes, and shocked. Who wouldn't be?"

'Significant' arrest: RCMP

A Wednesday news release said police assembled a list of suspects and then narrowed it down with the help of the community.

"This arrest is significant," said Sgt. Todd Doyle of RCMP major crime services in a news release on Wednesday.

"Investigators have been working since Jan. 6, 2013, to get justice for Leah. She was a young girl with a bright future, which was violently stolen from her," Doyle said. "This is far from over, but this is a good day."

Josie Anderson remembers her niece as kind, funny and talented.

"She always had a lisp when she spoke. She was so soft and was very very kind, she was loving. She was just beautiful," she said."

Josie Anderson started to paint because of encouragement from the niece

"That's one thing I like to say is a gift that she left me, to see that I had artistic ability just like her. She was amazing," she said. "I'll never forget. Cause every time I draw or paint a picture I think of her."