Transient Arrested In Murders Of 2 Women

A 37-year-old transient has been arrested in the brutal killings of two elderly women on this city’s east side, police said Tuesday.

The man, who has no permanent address but has lived at times in the neighborhood, was apprehended late Monday by officers responding to reports of a prowler, Chief Phil Arreola told a news conference.

The man, whose name was withheld pending formal charges, was arrested on several outstanding warrants and for attempted residential burglary.

After interviewing the man on Tuesday and collecting evidence, the lead detective and prosecutors determined they had enough evidence to book him for investigation of first-degree murder.

Formal charges were expected today.

The arrest came in the Jan. 27 deaths of Mildred Pirie, 91, and Blanch Titus, 77. Their bodies were found the next day, bound and gagged, at Pirie’s home. The women had been close friends for more than 30 years. Titus, who lived three or four houses away, often cooked for her older friend and frequently spent the night, neighbors said.

The two women were beaten and asphyxiated. The house had been ransacked, but contained little worth stealing, relatives said.