( CNN ) -- A man who killed himself before police could question him about the abduction of a 4-year-old Missouri girl was a convicted sex offender , a local official told CNN Thursday . Paul Smith , 38 , died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head , Lincoln County , Missouri , coroner Robert Shramek said . Smith shot himself as investigators approached him late Wednesday afternoon . He died in a hospital at 10:29 p.m. , Shramek said . Smith was a convicted sex offender , according to Missouri 's sex offender registry and Louisiana , Missouri , city administrator Bob Jenne . St. Louis County Police Chief Timothy Fitch told reporters Thursday that `` good old-fashioned detective work '' led authorities to Smith . `` We have plenty of evidence that Paul Smith is the suspect , '' Fitch said in a news conference . The girl , Alisa Maier , was found alive Tuesday night in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton , about 70 miles south of her Mississippi River hometown of Louisiana , Missouri . She was wearing different clothes than the ones she had on when she was abducted , and Fitch said they were able to trace those clothes to a particular Wal-Mart . Store employees showed authorities transaction records from Smith 's purchase of a pack of cigarettes , which in Missouri , requires the buyer to give their date of birth . `` All ( investigators ) had to work with was some video of this individual and his date of birth , '' Fitch said . Alisa was discovered at a gas station car wash , where witnesses saw her walking away from a car with a very loud muffler , which then left the station . Fitch said Smith was familiar with that area . The little girl 's parents identified her from a photograph sent by police there , her grandfather , Roy Harrison , said Wednesday night . `` You could n't miss the big brown eyes , '' Harrison told HLN 's `` Nancy Grace . '' But the search went on for the man who abducted her , who was seen driving a dark-colored , four-door sedan with missing wheel covers and a loud muffler . A tip led police to a home in the town of Hawk Point , about 45 miles south of Louisiana , where police found a car parked outside a home that roughly matched that description , Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt . Al Nothum said . Before police could speak to the man at the home , `` He pulled out a gun and shot himself , '' Nothum said . Alisa was snatched from the front yard of her home Monday evening as she played with her 6-year-old brother . Harrison said his granddaughter is `` a bright young girl '' who has talked `` a little bit '' with her parents about her abduction . Anita McKlevis , a neighbor , told HLN 's `` Prime News '' that the town of about 4,000 was overjoyed by the girl 's safe return . `` It was like someone gave us all $ 1 million , '' McKlevis said . `` Everybody is so happy for this little girl and the family . We are going to stick by the family . That 's important . '' McKlevis said she sent cupcakes to the family 's home , `` because I know she loves them . '' And Harrison said the family was `` ecstatic '' over Alisa 's safe return . `` I 've told people earlier , if I could do a back flip , I would , '' he said . `` When we get her back and get the family together , we 're gon na have a barbecue and togetherness , and hugs and kisses . I could n't be any happier . ''
NEW : Paul Smith , suspected of abducting a 4-year-old gir , was a convicted sex offender . He had been in prison for molesting his own daughter and another child before he abducted the girl from her home on May 1 last year. Police say they tracked the suspect using `` good old-fashioned detective work '' Smith died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head . The abducted 4-year-old girl was discovered alive Tuesday .