Police have captured a prime suspect in the case of a Canadian couple murdered in their Ajijic home, while an accomplice remains on the run, Jalisco Attorney General Luis Carlos Nájera announced at a press conference early this morning.
Najera identified the alleged killer as Julio César Castillo Casillas, 31, arrested in Chapala yesterday by state law enforcement officers. A widespread search for his brother and partner-in-crime continues.
The bodies of Nina Discombe, 72 , and Edward Kular, 84, were discovered Sunday, February 9, in the home they shared in the La Floresta subdivision.
Discombe reportedly died from stab wounds in the abdomen while her partner succumbed to head wounds inflicted by a blunt object. Forensic tests practiced on the corpses set the time of death at approximately 2 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Immediately after learning of the grisly crime, the Attorney General put the case in the hands of the state’s intentional homicide division, assigning a team of more than 70 agents to handle detective work and an intensive manhunt for the culprits.
Around 30 men, including investigators and state police, were posted to the lakeside area under orders to comb the area for suspects and clues.
On Tuesday morning the couple’s stolen van was located in the village of Tlachichilco, about 10 kilometers north east of Chapala. Throughout the day convoys of armored state police patrols were spotted scouring the north shore as a government helicopter buzzed over head.
Meanwhile, dozens of potential witnesses and persons of interest were brought in for questioning at the command center set up in the Chapala Ministerio Publico district attorney’s office.
News that a murder suspect was in custody spread like wildfire Wednesday afternoon.
Breaking news stories in Canadian media revealed details of the crime that were directly attributed to Nájera. He disclosed the theory that the suspects had plotted to burglarize the victims’ home while they were sleeping. Instead, they encountered the couple awake, killing them on the spot in fear of being recognized and identified to police.
He suggested that one of the brothers, employed as a construction worker at a neighboring property, had noticed the couple arrive home with a newly purchased flat screen television a few days prior to the crime.
Today, Nájera said that Casillas had confessed to pairing up with his sibling to rob the home and then murder the couple.
Authorities are now awaiting a court order to search the suspect’s place of residence where valuables stolen from victims are believed to be stashed.