3 teens arrested in Central Lubbock homicide investigation
Lubbock police arrested three teenagers in connection with the homicide investigation of a 50-year-old man who investigators believed was beaten to death in an ambush after he agreed to meet one of the teens online for a sexual encounter.
Police officials arrested a 16-year-old boy Tobias Salazar late Monday morning about two hours after issuing a news release identifying him as one of three teenagers suspected in the murder investigation into the death of Robert Stewart.
Typically, police officials do not identify juvenile suspects, however, investigators believe Salazar poses a danger to the public and is seeking the communities help to find him, according to a statement from Lubbock police.
Lubbock police on Friday arrested 17-year-old Bailey Forrest about 4 p.m. in the 4900 block of 4th street. She was booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center on a charge of murder and aggravated robbery. Her bond is set at $350,000 for murder and $100,000 for the robbery charge.
An hour later, a 16-year-old girl surrendered to police.
Investigators believe the three ambushed Stewart after one of them arranged online to meet him for a sexual encounter, police officials said.
The charges stem from a Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit investigation that began after Lubbock police officers responded to the scene initially to help the city's solid waste department with a vehicle blocking the alley in the 2600 block of 46th Street. Responding officers found Stewart in the back seat of his vehicle and EMS crews pronounced him dead at the scene.
Investigators found a fingerprint in Stewart's vehicle that matched Forrest's.
Stewart, who lived about six blocks north of where his vehicle was found, suffered what investigators believed to be blunt-force trauma to his head and torso, according to a redacted probable cause affidavit.
Evidence at the scene indicated that Stewart was killed elsewhere and his body was cleaned to hide blood evidence, according to a redacted probable cause affidavit. Investigators found evidence at an undisclosed residence where they found large areas of blood and evidence of a cleanup.
Investigators also found an area where they believed evidence was burned. However, a partially burned wooden club was recovered from the burn site.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock police arrest 3 teens in murder investigation
