Deputies: Couple tied up in home, husband killed

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A husband was tied up and stabbed to death and his wife was found restrained in a closet last night in their Kelsey Meadows home in what appears to be a deadly home invasion.

Jaime and Sandra Melgar were attacked in their home in the 9500 block of Kelsey Meadows Court. The couple was discovered by relatives who showed up at their home for an anniversary celebration. They found the garage door open and went inside.

Jaime, 52, was tied up in a closet. He had been stabbed to death, officials said.

His wife, Sandra, 53, told investigators she blacked out in a bathroom and then woke up in another closet restrained, but alive.

Homicide investigators aren't saying if the home was ransacked or if anything appeared to be missing. They are still working to gather suspect information.

Sandra Melgar has been interviewed extensively by investigators. She is now back home.

"Ms. Melgar says they were in the bathroom together, her and her husband, and at some time she blacked out and the next thing she remembers is waking up in the closet tied up," said Sgt. Robert Spurgeon with the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Meanwhile, neighbors and relatives are shocked by the crime and anxious to find out who's behind it.

"I think we're all in shock because nothing like this has ever happened here before. We don't know what happened, if it was it totally random, in which case it could happen to anybody," said a neighbor who we're identifying only as 'Ann.' "You see all the pretty Christmas lights and then there is police and a crime scene down the street."

An autopsy is scheduled for the victim today.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Couple sues CenterPoint after electrical shock leaves husband with major health issues

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A family in Katy are prisoners in their own home. They say they don't feel safe after a loved one got a strong electric shock while getting out of the shower.

The homeowner says the shock was so intense, he can't remember what happened right after it. Now, the man's family wants answers and is pushing to stop it from ever happening again.

The Katy-area couple hopes a lawsuit filed in civil court sends a strong message. They say their lives, all their way down to the what appliances they can use, have changed ever since the day the husband was injured.

For 50-year-old James Fivash, there is now a before and after in his life.

"I've had pain ever since. My eyes don't ever stop hurting," he said.

A man who once spoke easily now has trouble

"It's frustrating, I forget a lot of things," Fivash said.

The difference, he and his wife say, came in early 2011, just a few days after CenterPoint did work on the electrical box in their backyard responding to a neighbor's power issue. James says he finished up a shower, reached for the faucet and was shocked.

"And I remember it was bad," he said.

He went to the hospital while CenterPoint went to the house. The Fivashes say every outlet, every appliance was fried and the thing is before the shocking, they knew something was wrong.

"Things would dim and then get bright, dim and get bright," James' wife, Debbie Fivash, said.

The couple have now filed a lawsuit, claiming CenterPoint was negligent. CenterPoint declined to respond, citing the pending litigation.

But the company has sent the Fivashes three letters, acknowledging in one that the neutral wire -- important to complete an electrical circuit -- was loose at the time James was shocked. They say it was repaired and deny any liability.

"They're not owning up to what they should be doing," the couple's attorney, Joe Stephens, said.

Stephens believes the entire house must be re-wired, costing tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention James' ongoing health issues.

For now, they've learned to adjust to life without many appliances or electronics and to life after James' incident.

"It's tough for us," Debbie said.

The couple says they complained to CenterPoint about the surging issues in their house before the incident.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Couple tied up in home invasion robbery

KATY, TX (KTRK) -- An elderly couple was put through a terrifying ordeal, tied up and robbed during a home invasion in Katy.

Authorities are searching for the group of men who barged in and ransacked the couple's home.

Neighbors told us the couple who lives in the house in the 19800 block of Summerset Way near Fry Road is still very overwhelmed after that home invasion back here.

Investigators say it was just after 11am Thursday when five strange men approached the residence in the Estates at Green Trails. They say four of those men made their way into the home and tied up the couple inside. Both those victims are in their 70s.

Neighbors tell us the husband is ill and his wife tried her best to fight off the attackers. We're told those burglars took an assault rifle, and antique handgun and some cash before running off.

"We are all in shock right now because it is a quiet neighborhood. Nothing like this happens in our neighborhood and I'd gotten a message at work that this had happened and I just couldn't believe it. I worried about the neighbors that this happened to because they're an older couple and you just worry about their health," said neighbor Susan Brouchas.

Investigators say the female victim had to be taken to the hospital to be checked out.

As for the five suspects, deputies say they left the area in a white SUV.

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Couple killed in Pasadena house fire

  PASADENA, TX (KTRK) -- An early morning house fire in Pasadena has killed an elderly couple found in the home.

The flames tore through the home on Monroe near Pasadena Boulevard around 4:30am.

Firefighters fought their way into the house and found the woman lying at the front door, covered with burns. Crews then found the man on the ground at the back door.

Both fire victims were transpoted to Pasadena Bayshore Hospital where they later died.

It's not clear what started the fire.

We are gathering more information and we will update you on Eyewitness News and abc13.com as additional details become available.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Elderly couple stabbed at NW Harris Co. home

  Crystal KobzaHOUSTON (KTRK) -- The search is on for a man who stabbed an elderly couple in their garage in northwest Harris County last night.

It happened around 9:15pm at a home on Walters and Brimwood. Harris County sheriff's deputies say the couple had pulled into their garage and were unloading groceries when a man jumped them and stabbed them both.

Deputies say the husband, who's in his 70s, was stabbed multiple times and was last listed in critical condition. The wife, who's in her 60s, was cut multiple times and is said to be stable, but very traumatized over what happened.

The couple was taken to Ben Taub Hospital for treatment.

As for the suspect, deputies have few leads.

"At this time, the only thing we have is that it's a black male. It's the only description we have at this point," said Sgt. Greg Pinkins with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "We're still trying to locate possible witnesses that may have seen something."

Deputies added the couple are Asian and because of the language barrier, they had a hard time getting more information.

According to the couple's neighbors, they just moved into this home about six months ago and were in the process of remodeling. Detectives say they're looking into who was in the home recently doing work. They believe there could be some connection there.

At this point, authorities believe the motive was robbery.

If you have any information, you're being asked to call Crime Stoppers.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Couple gives Houston waiter $5,000 tip

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- While most people had three days off this weekend for Memorial Day, one waiter is very glad he was working.

That's because one of his customers left a tip of more than 18,000 percent.

"I'm just humbled by it, that's all," D'Amicos Italian Cafe waiter Greg Rubar said.

Rubar still can't believe how his bad luck turned into good fortune.

"I think it was three or four weeks ago, it was a Friday night, it was raining really hard," he said.

Rubar was heading home a few weeks ago when high water ruined his car.

"The way I work, hours I work, it was very hard to take the bus, I was taking a cab a lot," he said.

Rubar has worked at D'Amicos for 16 years and one couple in particular have become very good customers over the past eight years. Rubar told them about his car problem but never expected what would happen this past Saturday.

"They just came in and gave me money to buy a car, told me to go buy a car with it," Rubar said.

Those longtime customers gave Rubar an envelope, filled with $5,000 in cash.

"It's enough money to go buy you a nice car. I didn't even look at it. I was hesitant about it, but he said, 'No you take it and buy you a car!'" Rubar said. "People can be generous, you know? They told me they felt like I deserved this."

Rubar says no one has ever done anything like this for him. His boss is overwhelmed at the generosity of the two customers.

"And also that we have staff that our customers feel so close to that they could willingly and wantingly do something like that for them," the restaurant's VP Brina D'Amicos said.

Rubar says another customer is helping him select a used vehicle to buy. He also has a message for his two special friends.

"Thank you very, very much. I mean I did need it and I'm gonna buy a car with it; that's what that money's gonna go to -- every cent," he said.

The two customers wish to remain anonymous. Rubar has not seen them since they gave him the money. Rubar says he plans to get his new vehicle soon.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Motorcycle wreck shut down NW Freeway for couple of hours

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police say a motorcyclist slammed into the back of an 18-wheeler on the Northwest Freeway last night.

The accident happened on Highway 290 at Fairbanks North Houston. The truck never stopped and police say the driver might not have realized the biker hit him.

Witnesses say the biker was weaving in and out of traffic and might have been going 100 miles per hour when the accident happened. The biker was taken to the hospital in serious, but stable condition.

The inbound lanes of the freeway were closed for two hours.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Couple accused of starving newborn baby at motel

  HOUSTON -- A couple has been jailed and charged with injury to a child after police found their 5-week-old son starving at a Houston-area motel where the couple was staying.

Jacob Zachery King and Mica Marie King-Etheridge are booked into the Harris County Jail with bonds set at $50,000 each. Court records show they have no attorneys yet.

The three had been staying at a motel in the Houston suburb of Webster. Police Sgt. James Lovel says the man's sister called Webster police after she visited them and was alarmed by the boy's condition.

Police arrived, and the child was airlifted to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, where he was in critical condition Wednesday.

Lovel says Jacob King was unemployed and had come to the Houston area from Louisiana to look for work.

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Charges filed against couple accused in crime spree

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Charges were filed Saturday against a couple authorities believe was behind a county-wide violent crime spree.

Bobbie Grubbs and his wife, Deedra Grubbs, were arrested Friday after 10 days on the run.

They're accused of three home invasion robberies and a deadly shooting at an East Texas motel.

Deedra Grubbs is charged with aggravated robbery and burglary of a habitation.

Bobbie Grubbs is charged with capital murder in Shelby County. He also faces several charges in Harris County, including aggravated robbery.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Man charged in stabbing of elderly couple

James Harris, Jr. is charged with murder and aggravated assault

  ANGLETON, TX (KTRK) -- A man is now charged with murder and assault, accused of attacking an elderly couple in their home in Angleton.

Angleton police say James Harris, Jr. is in custody. They say he stabbed Alton and Darla Wilcox after breaking into their home on the afternoon of January 14.

Alton Wilcox, 85, died at a hospital. His wife Darla Wilcox, 69, is recovering at the hospital.

According to police, Harris robbed the couple to get rent money for his south side hotel room. Police say the charges could be upgraded to capital murder later this week.

Bond is set at $1 million total for the two charges.

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New evidence released in shooting of League City couple confronting car burglar

  LEAGUE CITY, TX (KTRK) -- League City police have released new evidence in the search for suspects in a double shooting and car burglary case.

In one of the incidents, a woman saw a man breaking into her husband's truck on Meade Court in the Ellis Landing subdivision. He followed her outside to do something about it and that's when the burglar turned violent, shooting both the man and woman just feet from the front door of their home.

Police say as the gunman was running from the scene of Monday's shooting, one of his shoes fell off. The shoe -- a black and white Adidas AdiZero Crazy Light basketball shoe men's size 11 -- is currently being processed for DNA evidence and fingerprints.

There were four other burglary of motor vehicles which occurred in the same area -- two in Ellis Landing and two in the Clear Creek Village subdivision -- at around the same time, just prior to the shooting incident on December 26. The Clear Creek Village subdivision is located just north of FM 518 from Ellis Landing.

Information obtained from witnesses confirms these crimes were most likely committed by the same suspect(s) due to the similarities of the vehicle and suspect description.

Witnesses to the other crimes described both hearing and seeing a small sports car with a loud exhaust. It is now believed there were at least two persons involved, as witnesses described one person driving the vehicle and one person getting in and out breaking into cars.

If anyone has information relating to this case please call Galveston County Crime Stoppers at (409) 763-TIPS (8477) or the League City Police Department at 281-554-1802.

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Couple found dead in apparent murder/suicide

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office detectives are investigating what appears to be a murder/suicide case in the Greatwood subdivision.

At about 10:40pm Thursday, deputies were called to a home located in the 2000 block of Cordelia Place. Deputies arrived at the scene and discovered two bodies in a bathroom, both deceased from what appeared to be gunshot wounds.

Deputies found the bodies of Paula Simpson, 47, the resident of the home, and Jim Phillips, 46, of Houston, who officials say was Simpson's boyfriend.

Autopsies will be performed by the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office to determine the cause of death. The case is still under investigation.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Couple shot while confronting car burglar

LEAGUE CITY, TX (KTRK) -- Two League City residents are recovering after they're shot confronting a car burglar. Right now, the shooter is on the loose.

The attack happened around 5:15am Monday on Meade Court in the Ellis Landing subdivision.

The 41-year-old husband was shot in the chest at close range. He remains in the hospital in critical but stable condition. We're told his 36-year-old wife is by his side, nursing a leg wound of her own. Both were shot just feet from the front door of their home.

"It's still very emotional," neighbor Pat Wayhan said.

It was certainly not how Wayhan expected to wake up the day after Christmas.

"I could hear my neighbor just screaming, 'Help me, help me, please somebody help me,'" Wayhan said.

But there were gunshots first, just seconds after her two neighbors -- a husband and wife -- interrupted a burglar in the act.

"It's surreal is all I can say; it's just something that you would never think would happen in League City," Wayhan said.

League City police say the wife saw a man breaking into her husband's truck, he followed her outside to do something about it and that's when the burglar turned violent.

"She told me the last thing she remembered was hearing a pow, another pow and realized her husband had been shot," League City Sgt. Tamara Spencer said.

And it would take the wife a few more minutes to realize she was injured too.

"Until she went 'ow,' we had no clue that she had even been hit," Wayhan said.

"Her main focus was take care of my husband," Sgt. Spencer said.

The shooter took off in what the wife described as a black two-door sports car with a loud muffler. Police have a similar car description from another burglary Monday morning and believe the same person may be responsible for as many as three others. There were no confrontations during those, and Sgt. Spencer says that's the best advice.

"You never know what they're going to do," Sgt. Spencer said.

Neighbors say the couple has five children between them. They were all inside asleep when their parents were shot.

The suspect is described as a white male in his late 20s, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs around 170 pounds. He was wearing a dark-hooded sweatshirt. The car he was driving is believed to be a late 90's or early 2000s model.

Anyone with information regarding the suspect's identity is asked to contact the League City Police Department at 281-554-1802.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Couple dies in northeast Houston house fire

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A couple was killed in a tragic fire in northeast Houston. We are learning more about the victims as investigators try to determine the cause of the fire.

The fire broke out at the home on Kenton near Bacher just before 5am. Fire investigators were on the scene for hours trying to find out what caused the deadly blaze in the Settagast neighborhood. It took the lives of two people, one of them identified by family as Dorothy Moore, grandmother to Joseph Moore.

"She liked to cook and be with her family, play with her little grandkids," Joseph said.

He is at a genuine loss, and can't even speculate as to what caused this fire. The Houston Fire Department won't say much either, wanting to do a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire and cause of death for the individuals. The second victim has been identified by neighbors and family as Eddie Manuel.

"He was a nice person, do odds and ends around the neighborhood, cut yards and stuff. A real nice person," said neighbor Kareen Brooks.

When firefighters arrived at the home in the early hours of this morning, they faced a difficult task. There were heavy flames with portions of the home boarded up, a lot of possessions piled up and a live power line on the property, all making a rescue attempt nearly impossible until they could beat back the flames.

The two victims were found in the back of the house. It seems they were trying to escape the fire.

"We have to make a document of where the bodies were found -- what was the probable cause," said HFD District Chief Rick Flanagan. "There are so many intricate pieces we have to put together in the investigation."

That's all HFD is saying for now, but Joseph Moore knows enough to know this just isn't right.

"Natural causes I can understand, but this, no," he said.

Arson investigators are on the scene. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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