North Carolina man wanted in wife's death caught in Arizona

NASHVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina man accused of killing his wife was arrested Sunday during a traffic stop in Arizona after a multi-day manhunt, authorities said.

Nash County, North Carolina, Sheriff Keith Stone said 57-year-old Rexford Lynn Keel Jr. was arrested on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona, by state troopers. Stone said someone in Arizona called a tip that the suspect had been seen on an Arizona interstate into his office, which then relayed the information to state police in Arizona.

Stone said at a news conference that he wanted to thank "the citizens for stepping up and reporting seeing something suspicious."

Keel had a large amount of cash and a knife with him when he was arrested, Stone said. He said the truck he was driving was being searched.

(Lynn Keel)

Keel was listed as being held Sunday in the Pima County, Arizona, jail.

The Nash County Sheriff's Office said it obtained an arrest warrant Friday accusing Keel of murder in his wife's death. Investigators said he fled in a pickup truck, launching a multi-day manhunt.

(Diana Keel)

His wife, 38-year old Diana Alejandra Keel, had gone missing on March 9. The body of the mother of two was found days later in Edgecombe County.

Stone said Sunday that it appears she died of multiple stab wounds.

Diana is not the first spouse of Lynn Keel to have died.

Lynn's previous wife, Elizabeth Bess Edwards Keel, died from blunt force trauma to the head after she reportedly fell and hit her head on the corner of the concrete steps in the front of their house in January 2006.

The medical examiner ruled her death accidental.

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Associated Press