AHWATUKEE, AZ — A man has been arrested in connection to a triple murder investigation at an Ahwatukee apartment, police announced Friday.
On Monday morning, three people were found dead after a fire broke out at an apartment complex near 48th Street and Ray Road.
According to initial reports from police, all three victims appeared to have suffered "obvious signs of trauma" that "was not related to the fire inside the apartment."
The victims were identified Thursday as 37-year-old Samuel Lott, 27-year-old Merissa Honeycutt, and 25-year-old Anthony Frederickson-Ceccarelli.
Police say the victims were killed early Sunday morning and the apartment was set on fire on Monday.
On Friday, police announced that 30-year-old Chase Christman had been arrested in connection to the incident. Investigators initially believed that Christman was the only suspect involved. However, on July 24, they announced the arrest of 53-year-old Dorian Rice.
During questioning, MCSO says Rice admitted to driving Christman to the residence to commit a planned robbery and drove him away from the scene after the murders.
Police say Christman was linked through digital and physical evidence gathered at the original crime scene.
Christman admitted to being at the apartment, but did not admit to committing the homicides, police say.
Christman was booked into jail on three counts of murder and one count of misconduct involving weapons.
Police have not released information regarding the victims' cause of death or a possible motive. Police do say that Christman is an associate of all three victims.
ABC15 will continue to update this story as more information is available.
