Fugitive suspected of killing parents in Louisiana captured in L.A.
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Friday announced that Marina del Rey deputies had arrested a Louisiana man suspected in the double murder of his parents.
Joshua Brocato, 34, was wanted by the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of fatally shooting his elderly parents, Priscilla and Marc Brocato, in their southeastern Louisiana town of Amite.
Brocato was apprehended in Los Angeles a day after the Louisiana sheriff’s office announced it was searching for him after a welfare check at his parents’ home. Authorities say they found the bodies of his 66-year-old mother inside the house and his 75-year-old father on the property. Louisiana officials issued an arrest warrant for two counts of first-degree murder.
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In a news release, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said that deputies arrested Brocato after conducting a traffic stop, having noted a parked white Ford E-150 van in the 5400 block of Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. The car “matched the description of a wanted homicide vehicle out of Louisiana,” the department said.
“During the course of the deputies’ investigation, they discovered Suspect Brocato was in possession of body-armor and several loaded firearms including an assault rifle,” the department said.
Brocato probably fled to California within three days of the killings, the department said. Louisiana officials estimate Brocato’s parents died either on March 31 or April 1. The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office confirmed Brocato’s arrest in Los Angeles in an updated news release on Facebook.
“The reason for the crime is still unknown,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department news release said. Although it’s unclear why Brocato fled to California, the department said the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office had “alerted several law enforcement agencies in Southern California.”
Brocato also was booked on suspicion of multiple gun offenses, including possession of a loaded unregistered firearm and possession of an assault weapon, the Sheriff’s Department said. Brocato was booked at the Marina del Rey station without bail and has a Tuesday court date, the department said.
Los Angeles officials are working with Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office on transferring Brocato back to Louisiana, according to the news release.
