HOUSTON (CN) — The wife and a friend of a Texas man accused of killing five people and arrested Tuesday night following a four-day search have been arrested on suspicion they helped him evade police, a prosecutor announced Wednesday.
Police arrested Francisco Oropesa Perez-Torres aka Francisco Oropeza, 38, Tuesday evening without incident after a tip led them to a home in the city of Cut and Shoot. They found him hiding under a pile of clothes in a closet.
Oropesa is facing five counts of murder and being held on a $5 million bond in the San Jacinto County Jail in Coldspring.
Authorities said they had also arrested Oropesa’s wife, Divimara Lamar Nava, 52, at their home Tuesday night on charges of hindering his apprehension.
She initially appeared to be cooperating with investigators in their search for Oropesa, officials said.
Another man suspected of helping Oropesa avoid capture during a manhunt involving more than 250 officers from over 12 agencies, drones and scent-tracking dogs, was arrested Wednesday morning, San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon announced at a press conference.
Dillon said the man, who he did not name, had been arrested on marijuana charges, but added that additional charges are in the works.
Oropesa is accused of fatally shooting five of his neighbors, four adults and a 9-year-old boy.
Police say Oropesa lost his temper late Friday night after a group of his neighbors in a rural subdivision of Cleveland, Texas, a small town 45 miles northeast of Houston, told him to stop shooting his AR-15 style rifle in his yard close to their property because two infants in their home were trying to sleep.
Oropesa stormed into house, where 16 people, members of four tight-knit Honduran families, had gathered and opened fire with his AR-15, shooting all five victims in the head, the Houston Chronicle reported.
They were identified as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9.
By Tuesday, the combined reward offered for information on Oropesa’s whereabouts had grown to $100,000, including $50,000 from Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Authorities got a lead from the FBI’s tip line around 5 p.m. local time Tuesday and arrested Oropesa and his wife at 6:30 p.m. in the Cut and Shoot home, which is roughly 20 miles southwest of where the victims were murdered.
Oropesa is from Mexico and has been deported four times, most recently in July 2016, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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