A 44-year-old man was taken into custody Wednesday and is facing two counts of first-degree murder in the slaying of a Phoenix couple in 2002, police said.
Brian Ferry was booked into the Pima County jail in connection to the deaths of Charles Russell, 58, and Catherine Nelson, 42, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.
On Feb. 2, 2002, the couple traveled to Tucson to purchase a motorcycle, and never returned home, Dugan said. Four days later, a missing persons report was filed with the Phoenix Police Department when Russell and Nelson did not show up for work, said Dugan.
On Feb. 7, 2002, Tucson police assisted in the investigation and found the couple's red Ford F-150 truck abandoned in the parking lot of Santa Cruz Catholic Church at East 22nd Street and South Sixth Avenue, according to a 2010 Star article.
Detectives continued the investigation but were not able to locate the couple. Investigators believed foul play was involved with the couple's disappearance, but did not have additional leads to follow. The case was cleared as an unsolved missing persons case, Dugan said.
New leads developed over the past five years and the cold case homicide unit reopened the case, Dugan said. He said continuous follow-up, forensic evidence and assistance from the Pima County Attorney's Office led to Ferry's arrest.
Detectives ask that anyone with information about the case call 88-CRIME.
No further information was released.Β
