Kamala’s America.
Two men posing as utility workers for DTE Energy murdered an elderly man and bound his wife with duct tape in an upscale Detroit suburb.
Carlos Jose Hernandez, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, and an unidentified suspect gained entry into the Rochester Hills home on Friday morning after they produced fake badges and a fake work order.
Hernandez told Hussein Murray, the elderly homeowner, that he needed to enter the home and check for a gas leak in the basement.
Murray signed the fake work order and took the suspects to his basement.
According to prosecutors, the two fake utility workers murdered the elderly homeowner in his basement, came upstairs and asked his wife where they kept jewelry and other valuables.
“Shortly thereafter, the defendant and the other male came up and asked the female victim where the money and jewelry were,” the Oakland County prosecutor’s office said, according to NBC News.
The suspects used duct tape to bound the victim’s wife.
“They duct-taped her wrists and ankles. At one point, she started to scream, and the defendant hit her across the face,” prosecutors said.
The wife was able to get to a phone and call 911 for help.
Police say the couple was likely targeted because they owned a jewelry pawn shop.
Hernandez was arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana and the other suspect was arrested in Plymouth Township, Michigan.
“Suspect number one in the Rochester Hills homicide, Carlos Jose Hernandez 37, has been charged with murder among other charges. We will be seeking his extradition from Louisiana as we continue the hunt for his accomplice. Thank you to our partners at the U.S. Marshal’s Office and the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office, who arrested him in transit,” Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said on Sunday.
NBC News reported:
A man who was caught on camera posing as a utility worker to gain entrance to a Michigan house last week has been charged with murdering a man in a “gruesome” attack and tying up his wife, prosecutors said Sunday.
Carlos Jose Hernandez, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, was arrested in Louisiana and charged with felony murder and two counts of unlawful imprisonment, Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday.
A second suspect, a man whose name was not released, was arrested in Michigan in connection with the homicide, the sheriff’s office said Monday.
Authorities released doorbell camera video showing Hernandez and another man wearing masks and yellow fluorescent vests on Friday, asking for entry to the house in Rochester Hills, a Detroit suburb, claiming they were from a local energy company. “We’re DTE; we’re checking for gas leaks,” Hernandez is heard saying.
The pair had a phony work order on a clipboard and fake ID badges, prosecutors said.
Suspect number one in the Rochester Hills homicide, Carlos Jose Hernandez 37, has been charged with murder among other charges. We will be seeking his extradition from Louisiana as we continue the hunt for his accomplice. Thank you to our partners at the U.S. Marshal’s Office and the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office, who arrested him in transit.
