By Sara Ruberg
Two men posing as utility workers looking for a gas leak killed a man and bound his wife with duct tape after being admitted to their home in an upscale Detroit suburb Friday, authorities in Michigan said.
One man, Carlos Jose Hernandez, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, was arrested after being stopped by the police in Shreveport, Louisiana, on Saturday, according to a news release from the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office. The other, whose name has not been released, was stopped and arrested in Plymouth Township, Michigan, on Monday, according to a Facebook post from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Killed in the attack was Hussein Murray, 72, a business owner. His wife, also 72, was briefly hospitalized and was later released, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The woman’s phone and watch were taken during the attack, according to Karen McDonald, the Oakland County prosecutor.
Authorities said that the two intruders, in search of valuables, had first tried to talk their way into the home in Rochester Hills, Michigan, about 10 p.m. Thursday but that the couple had not admitted them. The men indicated that they would return in the morning and then did so, McDonald said.
Footage of the Thursday night encounter released by the sheriff’s office from the couple’s Ring camera shows a man who authorities said was Hernandez at the couple’s doorstep in a yellow vest and a mask and holding a clipboard. The other man, also in a yellow vest, stands facing away from the camera.
In the video, the man the authorities identified as Hernandez says they are with DTE, an energy company based in Detroit, and turns his clipboard toward the camera to show a form with the DTE logo.
“We’re checking for gas leaks,” the man says in the video.
When the men returned about 10 a.m. Friday, Murray showed them down to the basement to check for the leak after signing a piece of paper, according to a news release from the Oakland County prosecutor’s office. The two men returned upstairs alone and asked Murray’s wife “where the money and jewelry were,” prosecutors said.
The two men duct-taped the woman’s wrists and ankles, and Hernandez hit her across the face when she began to scream, according to McDonald. After taking the woman’s watch and phone, the men left in a white pickup truck with a DTE logo. The woman was able to free herself enough to call 911, authorities said.
Murray was found dead in the basement with his wrists and ankles duct-taped, according to McDonald. The sheriff’s office said it was unclear whether he had been shot or bludgeoned to death based on his “gruesome” injuries.
The police began a search and released the Ring camera footage to help identify the intruders. Hernandez’s vehicle was seen traveling south on Interstate 49 from Arkansas, and he was arrested in Shreveport, the police in Louisiana said.
Hernandez was charged with felony murder and two counts of unlawful imprisonment. He was also wanted on unrelated armed-robbery warrants issued in Ohio, the police said. If convicted of felony murder, he would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison, the prosecutor’s office said.
The second suspect was expected to be charged in the coming days.
DTE Energy said in a news release that it was rare that a DTE employee would need to enter someone’s home, and the company warned customers to ask employees to show their badges with photo identification. The company said it would usually try to contact customers before making home visits.
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