El Paso police investigating 9th murder of 2017, suspect in custody

Police have a suspect in custody in connection with the ninth murder of the year in El Paso.

The arrest was made hours after police officers were called to a home on the 300 block of Apodaca Place in the Lower Valley. The scene is in a neighborhood in between Mt. Carmel Cemetery and Speaking Rock Casino.

Spokesman Darrel Petry told ABC-7 during a briefing Monday a woman was found dead by police at 2:30 a.m. Police had been called to the house to check on the person living at the home.

ABC-7’s ‘Round the Clock Crew spotted officers stopping anyone who came through the area to question them and check for identification.

Before 7 am, police surrounded a home on Apodaca Place with guns drawn. You could hear a loud speaker blaring commands for a man to come out, but no one was found.

Police said the suspect was taken into custody in a nearby field after a helicopter with the Texas Department of Public Safety was called in for help.

Nearby South Loop Elementary school was put on lockdown for a few minutes, but police said no one was in danger. “The individual we have in custody was taken into custody a distance away from the school,” Petry said, “At no time were any of the children that attend that school or any of the neighbors in any type of danger.”

Police found the suspect, who has not been named, in a home near where the woman’s body was found.

A neighbor told ABC-7 her husband noticed suspicious activity outside the home overnight.

“My husband was outside with the dogs, he takes them outside late at night, and he actually saw the truck sometime between 12 and 1 am,” said Isabella Shaw. “He saw a truck pull up and he saw two people get out of the truck, but he didn’t know anything. I mean, it was alarming, but not to the point to make the call about.”

Juan Bonilla lives a block over from the scene of the murder on Apodaca Place. He told ABC-7 that while the suspect was on the loose, his wife locked herself inside their home. “She was asking me, ‘did they find the guy?’ We turned on the television and learned he was found, but it gets you going. I was concerned.”