Man arrested and charged with murder in brutal Michigan home invasion

Oct. 14 (UPI) — An arrest has been made in connection with Friday’s brutal killing of a 70-year-old man who authorities say was killed by two men who entered his home in Michigan’s wealthy Rochester Hills neighborhood pass themselves off as public service employees.

Carlos Jose Hernandez, 37, was arrested and is in custody in Shreveport, Louisiana, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan said in a statement Sunday.

He was arrested Saturday around 4 p.m. by deputies from the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana, who spotted a vehicle matching the description of the one linked to the Michigan home invasion heading south on Interstate 49 from Arkansas.

The suspect, who was arrested following an uneventful traffic stop, was charged with murder and other offenses, the sheriff’s office said in a statement, adding that it was seeking extradition from Louisiana.

According to the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office, Hernandez has several warrants out of Ohio for armed robbery, in addition to the Oakland County homicide warrant.

Michigan authorities accuse Hernandez of being one of two suspects who posed as DTE Energy employees to enter the home of Hussein Murray, 72, last week.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the two suspects tried to break into the home in the upscale Rochester Hills neighborhood Thursday evening by claiming there was a gas leak, but the entrance was… was refused.

The two suspects returned to the house on Friday and were allowed entry. Murray accompanied them to the basement, where they claimed they needed to check the leak.

Murray’s wife, also 72, called police shortly before noon and officers were dispatched to the home, where they found the woman with her hands bound with duct tape.

According to the release, she told police that her husband, a Wayne County business owner, had been kidnapped, but his body was later found in the basement by officers during a search in the house.

“Due to the gruesome nature of the injuries, it was not immediately clear whether he was shot or bludgeoned to death,” the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.

The unidentified woman was briefly hospitalized, authorities said.

The sheriff’s office released video taken of the suspected burglars as they asked the public for help in identifying the men. The sheriff’s office accuses Hernandez of being the man seen in the footage, wearing a fluorescent construction vest and face mask, while holding a clipboard.

In the 9-second video clip, the suspect can be heard speaking directly to the homeowners through the doorbell’s Ring camera.

“We’re DTE. We check for gas leaks,” he said before showing the documents attached to the clipboard.