Authorities announced Friday that they have arrested three people in connection with the stabbing death of a 16-year-old Moreno Valley girl whose body was found in a burned building a week ago.

Riverside County sheriff's officials declined to provide details of the arrests of two boys and a man suspected of killing Kayla Lorianne Wood, saying releasing that information could jeopardize an ongoing investigation.

Authorities found the suspects in Moreno Valley and Riverside, Riverside County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Earl Quinata said. The boys were booked into Juvenile Hall and the man was        booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in downtown Riverside on suspicion of homicide.

Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle said limited information was released because investigators are still chasing leads.

"The investigation is still significantly active," he said, declining further comment.

                                                                                        Burned building where Kayla's body was found

Kayla, a blond, blue-eyed girl who wanted to be a model, ran away from a Moreno Valley group home on Aug. 31.

Her life had been troubled. She had frequently run away from foster care, had been sexually abused and may have had depression and schizophrenic tendencies, social workers said. She also was suspected of working as a prostitute.

Police found Kayla's body Sept. 9 after firefighters put out a blaze at an abandoned Moreno Valley duplex frequented by transients. Kayla had her aunt's telephone number tucked into her pocket.

Her relatives said police called them Friday morning and said three people were in custody but nothing more.

Family members were relieved at news of the arrests, but said they remained angry that Kayla -- who had run away from foster care in two states -- had not been more closely monitored.

"I hope whoever did this gets what they deserve," Kayla's aunt, Ann Wood, said from her Hesperia home. "Nothing can bring Kayla back. She was gone nine days -- I can't imagine what she went through."

Kayla's paternal grandmother, Vivian Wamsley, of Albany, Ore., said the arrests would not make up for Kayla's suffering or her family's grief. Her granddaughter should have been better protected, she said.

"I hope to God they throw the book at whoever did this," Wamsley said. "Maybe now someone won't have to know the pain we've gone through."

Relatives are still searching for a letter they said Kayla wrote to a friend detailing a trip with a pimp to Phoenix. In the letter, Kayla reportedly said a man waiting outside the group home took her across state lines and left her in a park. Kayla wrote that the man threatened to kill her if she was seen with any other man, Wamsley said.

Family members are hoping the letter might lead to at least one person who might have been involved in the slaying.

A Phoenix police report taken Aug. 1 names Kayla as a victim of child prostitution. She was with a pimp named "Yogi" from Riverside, the police report said. An anonymous caller reported that Kayla and another girl were working as prostitutes in late July, Phoenix Police Detective Stacie Derge said.

Police later determined that Kayla was an underage runaway staying at a motel.

That time, Kayla had been missing from the Moreno Valley group home since July 27, said Rancho Cucamonga Child Welfare Manager Carol Sittig. Phoenix police reported the case to California Social Services on Aug 1. Social workers arrived in Phoenix two days later and flew home with Kayla. The teen said she had sex with the man who took her to Arizona, but was not raped, Sittig said.

A Moreno Valley resident on Friday recalled an encounter four to six weeks ago with a girl he believes was Kayla.

Jorge Rincon, 23, said Kayla was walking near the car dealership where he works.

It was about 104 degrees, Rincon said, and Kayla seemed like she needed something to drink.

"She was walking up and down the street like she was lost," said Rincon, who recognized a photograph of Kayla that appeared in the newspaper. "She said, 'I'm thirsty.' We got her a sandwich and we gave her some money."

Kayla didn't talk much, Rincon said.

"It didn't really seem like she was all there," he said.

One of Rincon's co-workers offered Kayla a ride and she said she wanted to go to a park, Rincon said.

Rincon said he was concerned about the young girl and asked his sister to drive by the park to look for her. But Kayla wasn't there.

"I felt bad something happened to her. She seemed like a sweet young girl," Rincon said. "She didn't really have much of a clue what was going on."

"I wanted to do something to help her out, but I was never able to find her again."