Police Say Social Distancing Fight Led To Double Homicide Of Wisconsin Doctor, Husband
"It was calculated, cold-blooded and senseless,” says UW Police Chief Kristen Roman.
Khari Sanford and Ali'jah J. Larrue [Dane County Sheriff's Office]
Two teens have been arrested in connection to what police say was the targeted double homicide of a respected physician and her educational consultant husband in Madison, Wisconsin.
A jogger discovered Beth Potter, 52, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, and Robin Carre, 57, lying in a ditch at the school’s 1,200-acre arboretum early in the morning on Mar. 31.
Carre was pronounced dead at the scene while Potter passed away at a local hospital.
The Dane County Medical Examiner's Office listed the cause of the couple’s deaths as “homicidal related trauma,” CBS News reported.
"Through our police investigation, we reached a point where we were confident in that this was not random and this couple was targeted," UW police department spokesman Marc Lovicott told the network in an Apr. 2 email.
On April 5, law enforcement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced they had arrested Ali'jah J. Larrue and Khari Sanford, both 18, for the deaths of Potter and Carre. The teens have been charged with two counts each of party to a crime for first-degree intentional homicide, according to a UWPD incident report.
Law enforcement allege in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday that Potter and Carre were shot in the heads over an argument about social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic. Money may have also played a role in the crime, NBC News reported.
The complaint states Sanford, a high school senior, attended classes with the victims’ adopted daughter, Miriam Potter Carre, and the two were dating.
According to the court documents, Potter Carre, who has not been charged in the case, and Sanford were both staying at the victims’ home but were not following strict rules the couple put in place to social distance because Carre suffered an underlying condition.
Potter and Carre decided to move the teens to an Airbnb property they owned, allegedly upsetting their daughter, documents read.
Authorities also allege in the criminal complaint that a classmate recently overheard Potter Carre at school planning how to get cash from her parents. The student, the documents state, heard "Miriam tell Khari Sanford that her parents had 'bands' of money and that they were rich.”
According to the documents, law enforcement claims the victims’ daughter was “untruthful” when she told them she and Sanford hadn’t left the Airbnb property on the night of Mar. 30. Despite her story, traffic cameras reportedly show a minivan similar to the one she drives near the crime scene that evening, hours before the jogger discovered Carre dead and Potter barely clinging to life.
The day of the grim discovery, Sanford allegedly appeared to be “excited and frantic” when he showed up at an acquaintance’s house and called Larrue, the second suspect in the case, and said he heard one of the shooting victims was still alive, documents state.
The teen allegedly said, "I swear I hit them, how did they survive.” He then hung up and told the acquaintance he’d shot Potter and Carre “in the back of the head,” according to the documents.
"It was calculated, cold-blooded and senseless,” UW Police Chief Kristen Roman said of the double homicide, Madison’s WMTV reported.
Sanford is being held in lieu of $1 million bail. Court records show Larrue has not yet entered a plea.
