A Michigan man has been charged with murder after he allegedly posed as a utility worker before murdering a man and tying up his wife — and a second suspect is also in custody with unknown charges.
Carlos Jose Hernandez, 37, was charged with felony murder and two counts of unlawful imprisonment, the Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney’s office said in a news release on Sunday, Oct. 13.
A second suspect was taken into custody on Monday, Oct. 14, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook, after a “fugitive apprehension team located” and arrested “the individual” without incident.
PEOPLE reached out to Oakland County officials for details about the second suspect and charges but did not immediately hear back.
Hernandez was taken into custody on Saturday, Oct. 12 in Louisiana. According to the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office, He was also booked for multiple warrants out of Ohio for armed robbery.
Hernandez and the second suspect allegedly went to 72-year-old Hussein Murray’s Rochester Hills home impersonating workers from Detroit utility company DTE. They claimed to be responding to a gas leak around 10 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10. Murray and his wife, also 72, spoke to the two men but didn’t allow them inside.
The suspects returned the following day, around 10 a.m., and were permitted inside and were taken by Murray to inspect the gas leak in the basement, the prosecuting attorney’s office said.
“Shortly thereafter, the defendant and the other male came up and asked the female victim where the money and jewelry were,” according to the prosecutor’s office. “They duct-taped her wrists and ankles. At one point, she started to scream, and the defendant hit her across the face.”
The two men searched the home and stole the woman’s phone and watch before fleeing in a white pick-up truck with orange cones in the truck bed.
The woman was able to call 911.
In a search of the home, sheriff’s deputies found Murray’s body in the basement. “Because of the gruesome nature of the injuries, it was not immediately clear if he had been shot or bludgeoned to death,” the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release on Facebook.
After the attack, the sheriff’s office released Ring camera video of the suspects.
“Our family is deeply saddened by the loss of my grandfather Hussein,” Hussein’s grandson said in a statement to 7 News Detroit. “My grandfather was a man with a heart of gold, who treated all those around him with kindness and compassion. He has made a lasting impact with our family and community, and I’m beyond proud to call him my grandfather… We are heartbroken by the news of his death, but our family will bond through this with the resolve he has instilled in us by being the man he was.”
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told 7 News Detroit that the attack was targeted.
“It wasn’t random, they’re not just knocking on doors and doing this,” Bouchard said. “We think they were specifically looking to violate this family and obviously, the one link we’re looking at initially is because they own a business. We’re going to check every direction and every potential motive.”
“This was a gruesome attack on an elderly couple in their home,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said. “I have authorized the highest charge which carries a mandatory life without parole sentence for this brutal crime. My office will work diligently to ensure that this individual is held accountable and that the public is safe from violent predators.”
