The 19-year-old son of a slain pastor and his family in Houston, Texas is now the prime suspect in the murder case.
The Houston Police Department told KHOU News that Isaac Tiharihondi is now facing two counts of capital murder for the deaths of 51-year-old Israel Ahimbisibwe, pastor of the Church of the Redeemer, his 47-year-old wife Dorcus, and 5-year-old son Israel.
Investigators believe that Tiharihondi murdered his family on January 25, when family and friends said that they lost contact with the Ahimbisibwe family. Investors said that the two parents were killed using a lamp, a baseball bat and hammer. Their son Israel was killed with a kitchen knife.
Their bodies were found on Monday by a maintenance worker, KHOU reported. They had been covered with towels, and police found no evidence of forced entry in their home.
Police and FBI launched a search for Tiharihondi when he disappeared after January 26. The investigation revealed that Tiharihondi went to New Orleans and then to Jackson, Mississipi where police and FBi agents arrested him on Wednesday.
He will be returned to the custody of the Houston Police Department later this week.
The motives for the murder have not yet been established, but it might have to do with Tiharihondi's alleged entry into the US Marine Corps. Tiharihondi had reportedly claimed to friends and family that he has enlisted in the Marine Corps and was due to start training at the end of January.
KHOU said that officials with the Marine Corps denied having any records of Tiharihondi's enlistment.
Tiharihondi's 17-year-old brother, whose name has been withheld because he is a minor, told police that their mother intended to confront Tiharihondi for allegedly lying about the Marines.
The family's friends in the church are in shock over the murders. A member of the congregation spoke to KHOU and said that Tiharihondi was a "good kid," and that he was "nice, respectful, and grateful."
"It's devastating. It's sad. It's unexplainable," she said of the murder.
