Killer Mark Bridger approached his victim's sister on Facebook months before he abducted and murdered April Jones, according to a new documentary.
Jazmin Jones, who was 16 when her little sister was killed, said Bridger tried to add her as a friend on social media and she deleted his request.
"I remember being sat in the living room on the laptop and a message popped up on Facebook," she said in the new programme British Police: Our Toughest Cases.
"And I was like: 'Dad, who is this?' He explained who he was. 'But why is he adding me on Facebook ?' So I deleted him and that was that."
Five-year-old April was snatched while playing with friends in a field outside her home in Machynlleth in October 2012.
The disappearance sparked the UK's biggest ever police search with over 150 officers working round the clock to find her.
Days after the search, police pieced all the information together and identified their main suspect, Bridger, who had an "unhealthy interest in children".
Jazmin described her feelings when she first saw her sister's empty bed on the night she vanished, The Mirror reports .
She said: "Walking in the room and seeing her bed, her teddies and her school stuff, you kind of feel empty because you're walking into the bedroom knowing she should be there in bed and knowing I should be saying goodnight and putting the cover on.
"It was really, really hard and it was heartbreaking and emotional and sad.
"So many emotions running into one. It was difficult."
During his first police interview, Bridger very quickly explained to officers that April was dead, claiming that he had run her over and driven off with her in a panic before losing his memory.
As the evidence piled up against Bridger, police were convinced that he had abducted and killed April at his home address.
As DSI Andy John reveals in the documentary, Bridger tried to deceive the police by showing fake emotion and upset as he was interviewed for in excess of 18 hours for April’s murder.
“What came across in interview was that Mark Bridger was an individual who clearly liked to be in control," he said.
"When he was being challenged about some of the evidence that we were gathering about April, on times he would become quite emotional, quite unpredictable in terms of his behaviour.
"In a sense, we didn’t believe him. The emotions that he was showing didn’t seem to be true emotions by any stretch of the imagination. He was somebody who was clearly a fantasist and certainly a liar."
Despite being formally charged with April’s murder, Bridger didn’t modify his behaviour during his trial.
DSI John said: "He was in denial in terms of his actions.
"He tried to present himself as a caring individual who had tried his best to look after April during the tragic accident that he alleged had taken place."
Jazmin said Bridger couldn't look at her family as the judge read out his sentence.
She said: "He couldn’t even look, he just had his head hung low as if he was about to cry. He was really shocked that he got found guilty."
Bridger was sentenced to a whole-life term in prison for the murder and abduction of April, as well as perverting the course of justice.
British Police: Our Toughest Cases airs Saturdays at 10pm on Quest Red and available on dplay.
