A Hannibal murder suspect told police that jealousy drove him to kill his former lover and a man she knew from high school.
Manuel G. Cazares, 32, is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 28 stabbing deaths of 27-year-old Amanda R. Thomas and 25-year-old Carl Patrick Epley.
Court records show that in a voluntary statement to police, Cazares confessed to the killings.
A detective recalled that later, after being read his rights, Cazares spontaneously responded to being thanked for his cooperation by saying “No problem, it is my fault.”
Police said Cazares also described what he claimed happened in the hours leading up to the crime.
Thomas had three orders of protection against Cazares, with whom she had a child in August 2007.
Thomas did not show up for the first court hearing and asked that the second case be dismissed. She was murdered before a hearing could be held on the third order.
Details of the crime
In his statement to police, Cazares claimed that he stayed with Thomas and their son at Thomas’ Starlight Ridge apartment on Feb. 26 at her invitation and that she told Cazares she loved him.
Thomas invited Cazares to return the night of Feb. 27 and saw him that day when she picked up food from the restaurant where Cazares worked, he told police.
At about 7 that night, Cazares claimed Thomas called and said she was going to Monroe City and would contact him later.
Cazares said he called Thomas when he got off work about 11:30 p.m. He claimed a friend then told him that Thomas had been seen at a Hannibal bar with a friend.
Cazares told police he was angered and that he tried to call Thomas, but got no answer.
At around 6 a.m., Cazares said he went to Thomas’ unlocked apartment and found her in bed asleep with Epley.
He told police he looked to make sure his son wasn’t in another room, then went to the kitchen and got a large knife before returning to the bedroom.
Cazares said he stabbed Epley first and then Thomas, but didn’t remember how many wounds he inflicted on either victim.
“Amanda was trying to get out of bed when I was going after the guy,” Cazares said in his statement. “Once I was done stabbing the guy, I went after Amanda and Amanda was sitting up in the bed and I stabbed her.”
After the attack, Cazares took Thomas’ car and used her cellphone to call his mother and a sister in Florida. He admitted telling them he’d done “something that was not right.”
Cazares drove around for a couple of hours and said he had suicidal thoughts, but didn’t follow through because he hoped to see his mother again. Cazares’ former boss also has said the suspect called him the morning of Feb. 28.
Cazares told authorities he briefly returned to Thomas’ apartment and saw that she had fallen onto the bedroom floor.
“I had initially returned to the house to kill myself,” the suspect said in the statement. “The only thing that kept me from killing myself was that maybe my mother would be able to see me again.”
Cazares turned himself in at Hannibal police headquarters at 9:48 a.m. Feb. 28.
An officer’s report said Cazares held out his hands and asked to be arrested.
When asked why, the officer reported Cazares said “I killed two people.”
Police noted there was blood on Cazares’ hands and shoes and said he directed officers to Thomas’ apartment.
Cazares said in his statement that he took the knife used in the stabbings with him after the attack, but investigators found what they believed was the murder weapon in a laundry room trash can at the apartment.
Autopsies have been done, but information has not been released.
