AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Authorities say they've connected a suspect to a double homicide in southeast Austin and an AMBER Alert that was issued Monday afternoon, with that suspect now in custody.
Austin Police officials say 31-year old Sherles Gregorio Machado-Hernandez was taken into custody Monday night in the 900 block of Fairfield Drive in North Austin, after a day long search by APD resources including patrol and the department's Air1 helicopter.
The day began with officers investigating a double homicide on the city's southeast side, in the 1800 block of Burton Drive. Two individuals - a male and a female, both in their 20s - were found deceased in a car with apparent gunshot wounds. No weapon was recovered at the scene.
The female victim had three children - ages 10, 4, and 2 - who were unaccounted for at the time; Machado-Hernandez is the father of two of those children. That prompted APD investigators to issue an AMBER Alert Monday afternoon; the children were found safe about 90 minutes later.
Machado-Hernandez had been considered to be armed and dangerous.
Police said Tuesday that within about an hour of issuing the AMBER Alert, other family members called police and said that Machado-Hernandez had dropped the children off with them. Those family members were able to provide details on the vehicle he was using to flee, which assisted in police apprehending him later Monday.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis, in Tuesday's press briefing, called Machado-Hernandez a "coward who killed the mother of his children and left three children motherless."
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call APD at 512-477-3588 or Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.
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