On the heels of a high-profile child rape and killing, Cherokee County authorities swept through the area Thursday, checking on registered sex offenders.

Residents have been shaken up by the slaying of 7-year-old Canton girl Jorelys Rivera. She was missing for three nearly days before investigators found her body in a Dumpster on Monday. A maintenance worker at the apartment complex where she lived is charged with murder.

The sex offender check-in operation was planned before Jorelys’ attack, but deputies said the effort took on extra meaning in light of recent events.

“Lights the fire under the belly so to speak we were rocked with a tragedy,” Cherokee County sheriff’s Lt. Jamie Gianfala told Channel 2 Action News.

Deputies said they found about 60 percent of the offenders at the homes where they said they were living.