A day after the man suspected of killing five of his neighbours in a Texas shooting was arrested, the sheriff says his wife has also been taken into custody. Divimara Lamar Nava, 53, wife of suspect Francisco Oropeza, was in custody in connection with the Friday night shooting, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson.
Nava had previously denied knowledge of Oropeza’s whereabouts, Henderson said, but authorities believe she hid him in the home near Conroe where he was arrested Tuesday.
A four-day manhunt for Oropeza ended Tuesday when authorities, acting on a tip, said they found the suspect hiding underneath a pile of laundry in the closet of a house.
Oropeza, 38, was captured without incident near the community of Conroe, north of Houston and about 20 miles (32 kilometres) from his home in the rural town of Cleveland. That’s where authorities say he went next door and shot his neighbours with an AR-style rifle shortly before midnight Friday.
Oropeza had been shooting rounds on his property and the attack occurred after neighbors asked him to go farther away because the gunfire was keeping a baby awake, according to police.
Oropeza will be charged with five counts of murder, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said. Bond was set at USD 5 million.
“They can rest easy now, because he is behind bars,” Capers said of the families of the victims. “He will live out his life behind bars for killing those five.”
The arrest ends what had become a widening dragnet that had grown to more than 250 people from multiple jurisdictions and had seen USD 80,000 in reward money offered.