Hot Lips
03-21-2009, 03:56 PM
HANNIBAL, Mo. (AP) — A Hannibal police officer was finishing up mundane paperwork on a quiet Saturday morning when Manuel Cazares walked into the station, blood splattered on his hands and shoes.
Cazares put his hands out, crossed them, and told the officer to arrest him.
"I killed two people," he allegedly said.
Details surrounding the allegations are far too common: an abusive relationship, a jilted lover, a sudden attack.
But some in this Mississippi River community of 17,000 best known as Mark Twain's hometown aren't just outraged by the violence. They also question why Cazares was in Hannibal at all.
Cazares admitted after his arrest that he is an illegal immigrant from the Mexican state of Michoacan. The 32-year-old had several run-ins with law enforcement before the homicides, but officials had never questioned his legal status.
Now he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 28 deaths of his ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Amanda Thomas, and 25-year-old Carl Patrick Epley.
[ Full Article (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jiVRNwQh-C4zkPajgep8_nit9FNgD971TL300) ]
Cazares put his hands out, crossed them, and told the officer to arrest him.
"I killed two people," he allegedly said.
Details surrounding the allegations are far too common: an abusive relationship, a jilted lover, a sudden attack.
But some in this Mississippi River community of 17,000 best known as Mark Twain's hometown aren't just outraged by the violence. They also question why Cazares was in Hannibal at all.
Cazares admitted after his arrest that he is an illegal immigrant from the Mexican state of Michoacan. The 32-year-old had several run-ins with law enforcement before the homicides, but officials had never questioned his legal status.
Now he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 28 deaths of his ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Amanda Thomas, and 25-year-old Carl Patrick Epley.
[ Full Article (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jiVRNwQh-C4zkPajgep8_nit9FNgD971TL300) ]