CENTERVILLE, Texas – A convicted murderer on the run since escaping a prison bus after stabbing its driver on May 12 is now suspected of killing a Houston family of five and stealing their truck from the family’s rural weekend cabin, Texas prison system officials said late Thursday.
In a statement, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice says 40 roving officers were searching near Centerville, Texas, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of Houston, where Gonzalo Lopez was thought to be hiding when they received a call from someone concerned after not hearing from an elderly relative.
Officers went to the weekend cabin along Texas Route 7 west of Centerville and found the bodies of two adults and three children. Identities were not released, but gone was their white 1999 Chevrolet Silverado with damage to the driver’s side and the Texas license plate DPV4520, said TDCJ spokesman Jason Clark. Lopez was believed to have driven the truck from the search area and may be armed, he said.
The family, which was from the Houston area, was thought to have arrived Thursday morning at the cabin, which they owned, Clark said. The five are believed to have been killed Thursday afternoon and had no link to Lopez, he said.
“I would just say Lopez is a person that does not care. He is an individual that has obviously killed, and has just killed. And so I think law enforcement will take all the precautions necessary to bring him into custody and bring him to justice,” Clark said at a late-night news conference.
Lopez, 46, has been the subject of an intensive search since his escape from the prison bus. He was being transported in a caged area of the bus from a prison in Gatesville, more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of the place where he escaped, to one in Huntsville for a medical appointment when he escaped in Leon County, a rural area between Dallas and Houston, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has said.
Centerville is the county seat of Leon County, which has roughly 16,000 residents and is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the state’s Huntsville prison headquarters.
The department has said Lopez somehow freed himself from his hand and leg restraints, cut through the expanded metal of the cage and crawled from the bottom. He then attacked the driver, who stopped the bus and got into an altercation with Lopez, and they both eventually got off the bus.
A second officer at the rear of the bus then exited and approached Lopez, who got back on the bus and started driving down the road, the department said.
The officers fired at Lopez and disabled the bus by shooting the rear tire, the department said. The bus then traveled a short distance before leaving the roadway, where Lopez got out and ran into the woods.
Lopez was serving a life prison sentence for a 2006 conviction of murdering a man along the Texas-Mexico border. TDCJ Inspector General Cris Love had said anyone found to be helping or harboring Lopez will face not only arrest and prosecution, but he believes is also “putting themselves in danger.”
“Lopez has a complete disregard for human life and will do what it takes to avoid capture,” Love said. “We will take this investigation wherever it leads us until Lopez is back in custody.”
At some point during the escape, Lopez stabbed the driver, whose wounds weren’t life-threatening, the department said.
A $50,000 reward for information leading to Lopez’s capture is offered.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free)
For all the latest World News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
