Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Police Make Second Arrest In ‘Targeted’ Attack That Left Couple Dead In Ditch At Wisconsin Arboretum
Ali’jah Larrue, 18, is an associate of 18-year-old Khari Sanford, who has also been arrested in connection to the deaths, authorities said.
The investigation into the alleged killing of a couple found dead by a jogger at a Wisconsin botanical garden last week continues. Authorities said they have made a second arrest in what they have called a "targeted" slaying.
A jogger found the bodies of Dr. Beth Potter, 52, and her husband, Robin Carre, 57, in a ditch at the University of Wisconsin arboretum last Tuesday. On Saturday, police announced they had arrested Ali’jah Larrue, 18, on Friday, The Associated Press reported.
Larrue was booked on two counts of party to the crime of first-degree intentional homicide and was taken into custody following the arrest of Khari Sanford, also 18, late last week. Sanford was booked on the same charges and the two teenagers are acquainted, according to authorities.
“We are confident these are the two guys,” University of Wisconsin police spokesman Marc Lovicott told the AP. He also noted that the investigation is still open.
The attack on the couple was not random, according to police.
“It was calculated, cold-blooded, and senseless, and we will continue to do all we can to bring justice to Robin and Beth, their family, and their loved ones,” Police Chief Kristen Roman previously said in a statement released Friday about the deaths.
A passerby jogging at the University of Wisconsin’s Arboretum in Madison first discovered the couple in a ditch near the lake, a spokesperson for the university police previously confirmed to Oxygen.com.
Carre was pronounced dead at the scene, while Potter was transported to a nearby hospital and died there. At the time, an autopsy report obtained by Oxygen.com stated that the pair died from “homicidal related trauma" but offered few other details.
Police confirmed on Saturday that the couple had been shot to death, the AP reported.
Potter, a doctor and associate professor, was a physician at the Access Community Health Centers' Wingra Family Medical Center, as well as the medical director of UW Health’s Employee Health Services, according to local outlet WMTV. Carre was known in the Madison community as a soccer coach who helped many young people, the outlet reports. They leave behind three children.
"Words cannot express our grief... Our sadness is immense,” Dr. William Schwab, professor and interim chair for the university's Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, said according to ABC News. "We will keep Beth’s legacy in our hearts as we step forward. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, there is added pain in not being able to gather together directly to comfort each other, but we will take time to reflect and console in a way that sustains."
No motives in the alleged killings have been publicly disclosed by authorities.
Sanford and Larrue are expected to make their initial court appearances sometime this week, according to the AP. It was not immediately clear if the pair had retained attorneys who could comment on their behalf.
They have not been formally charged, but potentially face a sentence of life in prison if they are charged and convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, according to ABC News.
