http://www.statesman.com/news/local/three-slain-including-child-man-in-custody-1007023.htmlAuthorities on Friday were investigating the deaths of three people, including a child, who were found slain at what officials described as two grisly crime scenes.
A suspect has been arrested and charged with capital murder in one of the deaths — that of a man found shot in the back of the head Thursday in his garage in eastern Travis County — and officials said more charges are likely.
The bodies of a woman and a child, believed to be her son, were found in the East Austin home where the suspect, Marco Antonio Garcia, 45, had rented a room, authorities said. He is in the Travis County Jail, according to records, and no bail has been set.
"This investigation has been a very fast-moving investigation," said Roger Wade, spokesman for the Travis County sheriff's office, which is handling the case with Austin police. "Our investigators have just now had time to take a breath."
Authorities identified the man found shot on his eastern Travis County property as Edward Randall Stout, 67, and said Garcia often did odd jobs for Stout. They said robbery was the likely motive in Stout's death.
Officials identified another victim as Carla Alvizo, 39, and said she and her 7-year-old son had been reported missing by family members this week. Officials have not yet confirmed the juvenile's identity. Officials said Alvizo was Garcia's former girlfriend.
Austin police homicide investigators would say only that Alvizo and the child died of "multiple injuries."
According to an arrest affidavit, Stout's daughter called sheriff's officials Wednesday to report him missing. She had talked to him that day and had made plans for him to give her a ride. He never arrived.
Family members checked Stout's home that afternoon and reported that his Dodge Ram pickup and a gun had vanished and that the front door of his house was unlocked. Another daughter also noticed suspicious transactions on her father's credit card, the affidavit said.
Deputies went to Stout's house, in the 6900 block of Burleson-Manor Road, on Thursday, and during a search of his workshop and garage found his body under a black tarp, the affidavit said.
Family members told investigators that a man they knew as "Tony" had for years performed odd jobs for Stout. He had been deported to Mexico but recently came back to Austin, Stout's family told detectives, according to the affidavit.
Authorities said Friday that they were still researching Garcia's history with federal immigration officials.
The family members guided detectives to a home on J.J. Seabrook Drive in East Austin where Garcia lived. When they arrived, a deputy "detected an odor of what he believed to be decomposing human remains," the affidavit said.
Police said that when they went inside the home Thursday, they found a victim and then obtained a warrant to search further. They then discovered the second victim.
According to the affidavit, investigators found information that showed Garcia might be at a hostel on South Lakeshore Boulevard. Authorities went to that address and found Stout's truck and a man standing near it.
The man, whom authorities later identified as Garcia, led deputies on a brief chase before they caught him. The affidavit said Garcia had Stout's gun.
"Garcia, without being asked any questions, stated, 'there is a computer and a camera down on that picnic table that belong to Ed Stout,'\u2009" the affidavit said.
Stout's relatives could not be reached for comment Friday. Alvizo's family also could not be reached.
At the site where Alvizo and the boy were found, several neighbors declared that the property — a run-down home on a corner visible from busy Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with bold signs quoting Scripture and referring to it as "God's Property" — was an eyesore. They said it drew groups of transients.
One neighbor said that Harold Davis, the owner of the home, styled himself as running a street ministry and opened his doors to "anyone who was seeking the Lord." Davis could not be found for comment.
Ernest Browning, 57, who knew the homeowner as "Reverend Davis," said news of the deaths came as a shock.
"I'm surprised something violent got a hold of this corner," Browning said. "This corner has never been through something like this."
Browning said he had created signs for his neighbor to ward off questionable visitors. One of the signs read "no criminal activity" and "no violence."
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Additional material from staff writer Claire Osborn.
Topic: Three slain, including child; man in custody (Read 449 times)