PEORIA, Ariz. — A Gilbert man has been arrested in connection to a deadly home invasion in Peoria, according to authorities.
The Peoria Police Department said Alexander Lee Smith, 21, was arrested on Nov. 11, 2024.
Smith is facing two counts of first-degree murder in connection to the deaths of 52-year-old Walter Mitchell and 42-year-old Susie Ephrem.
The married couple was killed on Nov. 11, 2023, when a suspect broke into their home, near 75th and Peoria avenues, around 4 a.m. and shot them, police said.
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Investigators identified Smith as the suspect and he was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force and Peoria PD exactly one year after the crime was committed, according to police.
At the time of the incident, police said they did not believe shootings were random.
Police responded to the couple's home at 4:12 a.m. after Ephrem called 911 and told the operator she and her husband had been shot.
Mitchell was pronounced dead at the scene and Ephrem was rushed to the hospital, where she also died.
Other details about Smith's arrest were not released by police.
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