Texas cold case suspect arrested in GR

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The suspect in a 23-year-old cold case out of Texas has been arrested in Grand Rapids.

Evan Squires, 70, and his 65-year-old wife Wilda were murdered in their Weslaco, Texas home on the night of Nov. 13, 1988.

The couple were Canadians from Minnedosa, Manitoba, about 120 miles west-northwest of Winnipeg, the Associated Press is reporting.

A suspect broke into the Squires' mobile home in the Magic Valley Trailer Park, waking them. They confronted the intruder and were shot to death "in cold blood," according to the Weslaco Police Department.

It was more than 23 years before an arrest was made in the case.

Grand Rapids police arrested 42-year-old Arturo Almaguer on charges breaking and entering and probation violation.

A DNA sample collected from Almaguer, who is from Texas but has been living in Grand Rapids since 2008, matched DNA recovered at the Weslaco murder scene in 1988.

A warrant for Almaguer's arrest in connection to the 1988 murders has been issued. Investigators are working to extradite Almaguer to Texas where he will faces charges in connection to the murders.

According to a GRPD spokesperson, certain felony arrests in Michigan require that a DNA sample be taken.

The murder of Evan and Wilda Squires, according to the Weslaco Police Department, was the "catalyst" for the creation of the Weslaco Crime Stoppers organization in 1989.

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Online:

About the Weslaco Crime Stoppers

Read more on the Michigan Forensic DNA Database (pdf)