Suspect arrested a year after couple shot to death at Peoria home

PEORIA, Arizona (AZAfamily) — A 21-year-old man faces murder charges after allegedly shooting and killing a married couple in their Peoria home a year ago.

This week, Alexander Lee Smith of Gilbert was arrested in connection with the deaths of 52-year-old Walter Mitchell and 42-year-old Susie Ephrem.

Alexander Lee Smith, 21, was jailed for allegedly killing a married couple in Peoria. — Alexander Lee Smith, 21, was jailed for allegedly killing a married couple in Peoria in November 2023.(Arizona’s Family / Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)

Shortly after 4 a.m. on November 11, 2023, Ephrem called 911 to report that she and her husband had been shot.

Peoria police responded to a nearby home 79th Street and Mescal AvenueThey found the couple suffering from gunshot wounds.

While Mitchell was pronounced dead at the scene, Ephrem died later in the hospital. The third person in the house was not injured.

Police said someone broke into the home at the time and investigators do not believe the attack was a random act.

On Monday, exactly one year after the shootings, Smith was taken into custody by Peoria police and the U.S. Marshals Service Violent Fugitive Task Force.

He was later sent to the Maricopa County jail on two counts of first-degree murder.

Peoria police have not released a possible motive for the crime or how the suspect knew the victims.

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