Police
arrest suspect in quadruple Florida killing, rescue boy
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[September 06, 2014]
By Letitia Stein
TAMPA Fla. (Reuters) - Police arrested a
man suspected in four killings and rescued a 4-year-old boy with him in
a SWAT operation at a hotel in Tampa, Florida, early on Friday,
authorities said.
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Adam Matos, 28, was apprehended at the Floridan Palace Hotel where
investigators say he had fled with the child, Ismael Tristan
Santisteban.
Matos is being held in the Hillsborough County Jail on a charge of
aggravated assault. Handcuffed and guarded by officers, he told
reporters the child was his son.
"I love my son, and I hope that he is safe right now," Matos said.
Authorities said the child appeared to be in good physical
condition. He is being held in protective custody.
Matos is the only suspect in the killings of two men and two women
whose bodies were found in a roadside ditch near the boy’s home in
Hudson in Pasco County, about 45 miles north of Tampa, said Melanie
Snow, spokeswoman for the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
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The identities of the bodies have not yet been released.
Sheriff's officials said they believed the man was trying to flee
with the child to Key West, Florida, and checked into the hotel when
he could not find a bus at a nearby depot.
Pasco sheriff's officials are seeking more information about Matos
and anyone who may have interacted with him during the past few
days.
Authorities told reporters they understand Matos was involved in
burglaries in Pennsylvania. They are not certain where he had been
living in the state, Snow said.
Matos came to the attention of Pasco County deputies on Aug. 28 when
his ex-girlfriend, who is the child’s mother, called to report that
Matos held a knife to her throat at the Hudson home.
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Matos was not at the house when deputies arrived.
Family members asked deputies on Thursday morning to check the
house, which is in a remote, wooded area, when they could not reach
anyone there.
Deputies found blood in the garage, Snow said. In a search of the
area, deputies saw birds flying and smelled decomposition. They
found the bodies nearby.
They used cell phone records to track Matos to Tampa, where SWAT
teams from Pasco County and the Tampa Police Department took Matos
into custody, authorities said.
(Reporting by Barbara Liston in Orlando and Curtis Skinner in San
Francisco; Editing by David Adams and Peter Cooney)
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