A Louisiana man who authorities believe murdered five people, including his parents and girlfriend, has been captured more than a thousand miles away following an intense manhunt, The Advocate reports.
Authorities on Sunday said they had arrested 21-year-old Dakota Theriot at his grandmother’s house in Virginia.
Theriot is accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend, her brother and father on Saturday morning in Livingston Parish, Louisiana. He then allegedly stole the father’s truck and drove to the neighboring town of Ascension Parish, where he shot and killed his parents.
“The father was gravely injured at the time we found him and has since passed away,” Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre said.
PICTURES POURING INTO THE NEWSROOM: Here’s a look at one of the victims from today’s deadly shooting rampage, Summer Ernest. @WAFB pic.twitter.com/FRfUdsnIyp
— Scottie Hunter WAFB (@ScottieWAFB) January 26, 2019
Webre added that before the father died, police were able to get a “dying declaration from him, and only enough information to let us know that it was his son that committed this act.”
The first three victims have been identified as Billy Ernest, 43; Summer Ernest, 20; and Tanner Ernest, 17. Summer Ernest was Theriot’s girlfriend and had been living with her family for several weeks, according to Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard.
Theriot’s parents have been identified as Keith and Elizabeth Theriot, both 50 years old. Crystal DeYoung, Billy Ernest’s sister, said she believed Dakota Theriot had just recently began dating her niece.
“My family met him last weekend at a birthday party and didn’t get good vibes from him,” DeYoung told the Associated Press.
Theriot was arrested at his grandmother’s house after police stopped him in her driveway in Warsaw, Virginia, shortly after 7 a.m. on Sunday, according to the newspaper. The grandmother slept in a hotel Saturday night out of concern that Theriot might try to find her. On Sunday morning, she had returned home with police officers when Theriot arrived.
Theriot will be extradited back to Louisiana, where he faces charges of first-degree murder, illegal use of weapons, theft of a motor vehicle and home invasion.
[Featured image: Dakota Theriot, Police Handouts]
