A 19-year-old man was arrested Friday as a suspect in the murder of an elderly Yuma-area couple.
Romeo Jay Arellano, of Yuma, has been charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder in the deaths of Manuel Marquez, 82, and Patricia Marquez, 79, according to the Yuma County Sheriff's Office.
Officers dispatched to a burglary and missing person case Wednesday night found the victim's body at a home near U.S. Highway 95 and West County 11 1/2 Street.
“The caller went to check on the elderly couple who lived at the residence, realized the home may have been burglarized, and contacted police,” a statement from the sheriff's office read.
The sheriff's office did not disclose a cause of death, the relationship of the victims to each other or whether they knew Arellano. A sheriff's office spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the sheriff's office, criminal investigators identified Arellano as a suspect.
According to information from the sheriff's office, Arellano was taken into custody Friday when a search warrant was executed at a home on the same street as the victims, where their bodies were discovered.
As of Saturday morning, he was being held at the Yuma County Jail. According to prison records.
“This incident remains under investigation at this time,” the sheriff's office said in a statement Saturday morning.
According to court records, Arellano was convicted last year of two felony counts of unlawful use of a transportation vehicle and unlawful flight from a police vehicle.
