A military working dog wounded in Iraq during a rocket attack that killed its Marine handler was adopted Friday by the slain Marine’s family.

Cpl. Dustin Lee’s family planned to take home the bomb-sniffing dog — named Lex — on Saturday after the 8-year-old German shepherd was granted early retirement. It was the first time a working dog was granted retirement to live with the handler’s family, officials said.

“Nobody can do anything to replace the void in this family,” said Col. Christian Haliday, commander of the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, where Lee and Lex were assigned.

“We hope Lex can bring a small piece of his spirit and help maintain his memory,” he said.

On hand for a ceremony at the base were the Marine’s parents, Jerome and Rachel Lee, his sister, Madison, 16, and brother, Camryn, 12, of Quitman, Miss.

“It’s not going to bring back my brother, but it’s something close to it,” said Madison Lee as she played with Lex after the ceremony.

Military officials initially told the family that Lex had another two years of service before he could be adopted. But the family lobbied for months — even enlisting the aid of a North Carolina congressman — and the adoption came exactly nine months after the 20-year-old Marine was killed and his dog wounded on March 21 in Iraq’s Anbar Province.

2nd Lt. Caleb Eames, spokesman for the Albany base, said Lee and Lex were sitting outside at a forward operating base in Karmah when they were hit by shrapnel from a 73mm rocket explosion.

“A part of Dustin is in Lex,” said the fallen Marine’s father. “To have Lex at home is a part of having Dustin at home.”

Rachel Lee said she believes her son’s spirit will live on through the dog because of their close bond and because they were together during the final moments of her son’s life.

“It was blood on blood,” she said. “We can’t get Dustin back, but we have Lex.”

EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — A man suspected in the slaying of a college student who led a secret life as an Internet porn performer was arrested in Mexico, authorities said.

Israel Mireles, 24, was arrested Wednesday on a Butler County homicide warrant at a relative’s home in Melchor Muzquiz, Mexico, about 70 miles southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas. He was being held there pending extradition, U.S. Deputy Marshal Logan Kline said.

Mireles has been charged with capital murder, rape and aggravated criminal sodomy in the death of 18-year-old Emily Sander, Butler County prosecutor Jan Satterfield said. Investigators believe Sander’s killing was planned, she said.

Sander was last seen alive on Nov. 23 when she left an El Dorado bar with a man police identified as Mireles. The disappearance of the Butler Community College student drew nationwide attention after the discovery that she also led a secret life as an Internet pornography model named Zoey Zane.

Her body was found six days later, about 50 miles east of El Dorado, as police traced the route they believed Mireles took to pick up his 16-year-old girlfriend, Victoria Martens, in Baxter Springs.

Kansas authorities received tips about Mireles’ whereabouts in Mexico from several sources, and their Mexican counterparts had been monitoring his movements since at least Dec. 3, when he was charged in Butler County, she said.

Mexican authorities held off on arresting Mireles until they were assured of the legitimacy of Kansas prosecutors’ case, Satterfield said.

Satterfield said her office had to promise Mexican authorities that it would not seek the death penalty for Mireles. If convicted of capital murder, he would face life in prison without the possibility of parole, she said. The extradition is expected to take about 60 days, Satterfield said.

U.S. Marshal Troy Oberly said Martens, who is eight months pregnant, was found unharmed in the same Mexican city but has refused to return to Kansas, despite an offer by Kansas authorities to assist her return.

Satterfield said prosecutors don’t plan to file charges against Martens and cannot compel her to return to the U.S. because there is no arrest warrant for her.

“It doesn’t sound like she wants to return to the U.S. Our main concern was that she was alive and safe,” Oberly said.

Mireles became the focus of the investigation after police found large quantities of blood in an El Dorado motel room where he had been staying. Authorities have said that a bedspread that was missing from that motel room was found close to Sander’s body.

Police have not released details about the cause of Sander’s death, but say her Internet activity had no connection to her disappearance.

Mireles was born in Mexico, where he still has relatives, and has been living in the U.S. legally. A rental car he was driving was found Nov. 27 in Texas, where he also has relatives.