A parolee who allegedly cut off his ankle monitor has been taken into custody as a suspect in a series of killings in the Houston area, police said Tuesday.
Jose Gilberto Rodriguez, 46, is a suspect in at least three slayings in the past week, with police calling him a “possible serial killer” at a news conference Monday night.
Rodriguez was taken into custody in Fallbrook, Texas, after police spotted him driving the gray Nissan of one of the victims in his alleged killing rampage, authorities told ABC Houston station KTRK-TV.
The Houston Police Department later confirmed that Rodriguez has been arrested.
Rodriguez led police on a chase from Eldridge to Fallbrook in northwest Harris County before he was arrested, police officials said.
Rodriguez may be responsible for at least five attacks in the area, three of which resulted in shooting deaths, police said.
The first attack, on July 9, was a home-invasion robbery where the victim survived.
Four days later, Pamela Johnson, 62, was found dead inside her home in northwest Harris County, police said in a news release. Her car, a 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser, was stolen from her home and found abandoned the next day at nearby Willowbrook Mall.
When investigators reviewed surveillance video from the mall, they observed the suspect, later identified as Rodriguez, park the car and leave the scene.
On Saturday, a second killing occurred at a mattress store in Houston, police said. The third slaying was at another mattress store in the area on Sunday.
On Monday morning, a transit driver was robbed and shot but is expected to survive, police said.
Police had warned that Rodriguez was considered armed and dangerous, and had advised the public not to approach him.
Prior to his arrest, Rodriguez was spotted in the Houston area, possibly going into neighborhoods and knocking on doors, pretending to be looking for somebody, police said.
