It's not an exaggeration to say Joel Marino was a beloved figure in his Madison neighborhood.

Amy Rock received the news of an arrest from another neighbor.

"I'm sort of speechless about it," Rock said. "It was something we were hoping and hoping and hoping for. If this is true and this is real, this is fantastic."

Amy helped put up the blue ribbons on trees around the Monona Bay neighborhood.

After hearing the news, she was off to tell other people.

"I'm going to spread the news cautiously," Rock said.

Cautiously because until a DNA match comes back, everyone is withholding judgement.

"I just hope that arrest means they've got the right guy, that they've got him and it's over and Joel can rest in peace," Rock said.

It's been a long five months since Joel Marino was murdered, and while neighbors hadn't given up hope, they were starting to wonder if his killer would ever be caught.

"It was really shocking when he died," said Julie Novander, another of Marino's neighbors. "The fact that they hadn't found anybody yet was really hard."

Amy says if they've really solved the murder, there will be even more blue ribbons.

"I'll go around and put them up on every tree again," Rock said.