Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Murder suspect Abey Girma caught after harassing woman at Ethiopian Colorado church


The suspect in a double murder in Dallas was arrested early Saturday morning without incident after a traffic stop in Aurora, Colorado.
Dallas police said 37-year-old Abey Belette Girma has been on the run since he allegedly shot Desta Yenenesh and Lemma Yayehyirad on the porch of their M Streets home on Wednesday morning.
The couple had just returned home from working at their popular Ethiopian restaurant on Greenville Avenue, Desta. The family is still deciding whether it will ever re-open.
Officers started looking for Girma in Kansas Wednesday.
After the shooting, police say Girma forced a co-worker to drive him from Dallas to Goodland, Kansas. According to a court document, Girma boasted of the killing to the co-worker, saying that the two victims had "disrespected" him.


Wednesday night, the co-worker escaped and called 911 from a Walmart. The Goodland police chief said by the time officers arrived, Girma was gone -- apparently headed to Colorado.
A woman at an Ethiopian Orthodox Church said a stranger started harassing her Thursday night, asking her for her number Thursday night. She saw the man, who introduced himself as "Abey," again at the church on Friday night. According to Aurora police, at 10:45 p.m. Friday, the woman had a knock at the door of her home from the man, but did not open the door.
The woman looked up a news story on the Dallas murder on the Internet, and saw a picture of the suspect, Abey Belette Girma. She recognized him as the man who was at her door and immediately called police.
Girma was arrested in a traffic stop without incident.

Their family told me they feel safer after the arrest, but they still don't know why a customer wanted to kill the couple.
Girma was booked into the Arapahoe County Jail Sunday night. He is due in court Tuesday morning for his first hearing before he's brought back to Texas to face capital murder charges.

                 

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