Police have finally made an arrest related to the July 2017 murder of Marrisa Shen.

Shen, a 13-year-old girl from Burnaby, was reported missing on July 18 after she didn't return home at the end of the day. Police subsequently used the GPS device in her mobile phone to locate the young girl's body in Burnaby's Central Park.

Later that month, police said that the killing appeared to be random. After that, there was little progress in the case shared with the public for more than a year.

Now, Ibrahim Ali has been charged with first-degree murder, according to court documents posted online by CBC News.

The only personal information about the man that authorities have shared so far is that he was born in 1990. The RCMP's integrated homicide investigation team (IHIT) has scheduled a press conference for later this morning (September 10).

Earlier this summer, on the one-year anniversary of Shen's death, her family issued a letter that asked the public for assistance in locating and bringing her attacker to justice.

"It is difficult to express in words the pain of losing her in this terrible way," it reads.

"We were supposed to see her grow up, but instead we have been deprived of the job of having her in our lives and we are left with thoughts of what could have been of Marissa's life."