PHOENIX (AP) — Police investigating the killing of an 80-year-old Air Force veteran arrested two suspects after they allegedly pawned the chain saw used to dismember the victim’s body.
Phoenix police said Thomas Wallace was being held Sunday on $1 million cash bond on suspicion of second-degree murder, concealing a dead body, theft of a pickup truck and trafficking in stolen property, while Romana Gonzalez is jailed on suspicion of fraud and theft.
Authorities said Wallace, 58, had been a roommate of the victim and Gonzalez also stayed off and on at the home where the body was found. It was unclear Sunday if either has a lawyer to speak on their behalf. Police didn’t release the victim’s identity or the age of Gonzalez.
Officers entered the home Nov. 1 for a welfare check and reported finding two black trash bags inside a bedroom, along with severed body parts in a pile of blankets, according to court documents. Homicide investigators then discovered blood on the ceiling, walls and furniture, and the victim’s head in layers of linen.