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N.C. man vanished after wife’s death. Police found him in Arizona, they say

Posted at 8:45 PM, Mar 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-17 20:45:40-04

Police found a North Carolina man — sought in the death of his wife — on the other side of the country Sunday, authorities said.

Rexford Keel Jr. was taken into custody during a traffic stop on Interstate 10, near Tucson, Arizona. The Nash County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina took out a first-degree murder warrant on the 57-year-old last week.

Keel made no statements to police. He had several Wells Fargo receipts and a large sum of money with him, the sheriff’s office said.

Diana Keel, 38, was reported missing March 9 and was found dead three days later about 30 miles away from her home. Rexford Keel was the last person to see her alive, police said.

Police questioned Rexford Keel on Tuesday and released him without charges, Major Miste Strickland of the Nash County Sheriff’s Office said.

Following a Wednesday autopsy, police said Diana Keel’s death was being treated as a homicide. They later said they didn’t know where her husband went and issued a lookout for his 1998 Chevy pickup.

Investigators are taking a second look at the death of Keel’s first wife, Elizabeth Edward Keel, who died in 2006 at the same home where Keel lives today, the sheriff’s office said.

At the time, it was ruled an accident by the medical examiner, the sheriff’s office said. An autopsy indicated she died after falling and striking her forehead on the corner of concrete steps at the front of the home.

Strickland told CNN that detectives were working with the FBI and other local agencies to investigate the deaths of both women.