A man who allegedly slit the throats of his wife and 3-month old son in Texas was arrested on a capital murder warrant in Colorado, police announced Thursday.
Craig Alan Vandewege, 35, is suspected of killing 36-year-old Shanna Vandewege and their young son, Diederik, who were both found lifeless in bed at their Fort Worth home on Dec. 15. Their deaths were ruled homicides caused by a cut to the neck, according to the medical examiner.
Vandewege, who told police when they responded that the victims were dead in the home’s master bedroom, denied any knowledge of the killings, according to a Fort Worth Police Department news release.
He was not held after being questioned.
On Wednesday, police officers in Glenwood Springs Police Department in Colorado responded to a report of a man acting suspiciously at a 7-Eleven store in the area, according to KTLA sister station KDVR in Denver.
The caller stated that Vandewege — who lived with his family in Colorado before their recent move to Fort Worth — had used his phone to call “a few people to talk about a murder,” according to the station.
Vandewege was pulled over for speeding and told police, “It’s been a long week. My wife and kid were murdered in Texas,” according to an arrest affidavit obtained by KDVR.
He was arrested on charges of speeding and for having no proof of insurance, the news release stated.
Glenwood Springs police then contacted the Fort Worth Police Department, which told them that Vandewege was still a person of interest in the double homicide.
Investigators later searched the man’s car and allegedly found an AR-15 rifle and a .22-caliber revolver, along with numerous boxes of ammunition, empty gas cans, camouflage clothing and several bottles of medication, the station reported. They did not locate any knives.
Before Vandewege was able to bond out on the traffic-related charges, Fort Worth police obtained a capital murder arrest warrant for Vandewege. He was subsequently held on the outstanding warrant, which carries a bond amount of $1 million, according to police.
Vandewege, who remains behind bars in the Garfield County jail, is scheduled to appear in court Friday, according to KDVR.
