Texas homicide suspect arrested at border, held in Cavalier

A firefighter from Texas suspected of killing a woman there was arrested over the weekend trying to enter Canada at the Pembina, N.D., border crossing.

Joe Carr, 27, was brought into the Pembina County jail in Cavalier, N.D., over the weekend and still was there Monday, according to a law enforcement source there.

According to news media reports in Austin, Texas, Carr is a suspect in the homicide of Veronica Navarro, 22. Her body was found floating in Lake Travis in Pace Band Park near Austin last Wednesday, according to the Austin Statesman newspaper. Her body was wrapped in a tent and weighted down with paint cans. KVUE TV in Austin had a similar report Monday, quoting Texas authorities.

Carr was Navarro’s boyfriend. Detectives searching the home Navarro and Carr shared in a city near Austin found similar paint cans and part of a tent and a trash bag believed to have been used in Navarro’s homicide.

Canadian authorities then alerted Texas law enforcement that Carr planned to cross the border. KXAN radio in Austin said Carr was detained Saturday at the Pembina crossing.

U.S. Customs officials detained Carr until a warrant for tampering with evidence, which is a felony, was obtained, according to the Statesman. He then was taken into custody by Pembina County Sheriff’s Department on $100,000 bail.

Carr was a fire engine driver for the Pedernales Fire Department and worked 48 straight hours July 4-5, a fire official told the Statesman. Carr didn’t work July 6 and failed to show up for his next shift on Sunday, when he already was in Pembina County.

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