Suspect Arrested in Case of Murdered Dallas Teen Zoe Hastings, Police Say
Police now have a description of a man who was last seen with Zoe Hastings.
— -- A man was arrested for allegedly killing a teenage girl who was on her way to church, police said.
The suspect, Antonio Lamar Cochran, 34, was picked up by the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Apprehension Team after DNA from the crime scene allegedly matched his in the case of Zoe Hastings, 18.
Cochran was charged with capital murder and his bond was set at $1 million, police said.
"The Family of Zoe Hastings is so grateful for the Dallas Police Department's swift action in making this arrest," the Hastings family said in a statement. "We feel one step closer to bringing closure to our family regarding this senseless tragedy."
Police earlier said they had a description of a man who was last seen with Hastings, whose van was fished out of a creek not far from her home.
It was not immediately clear how the Hastings was killed. The motive was not clear and police said he was a stranger.
Her parents say their daughter was killed as she was set to leave for a mission trip, the latest act of kindness for a teen motivated by giving back.
“That's really how she treated everyone,” Hastings’s father Jim said.
Authorities say Hastings left her Dallas home on Oct. 11 for a class at the Church of Latter-Day Saints.
But she never made it. Her body was spotted in a creek near the wrecked family van the following day.
"When I saw the pool of blood, I knew that she...and the color of her skin,” said Joseph Noriega, who discovered the body. “I could just tell that she had died."
Now police are revealing a crucial new development in the hunt for a suspect. An eyewitness told authorities they saw a woman fitting Hastings' description talking to an unidentified man outside of a local Walgreens.
“The witness describes seeing the male get into that minivan in the driver's seat and the female moving over to the passenger seat,” said Max Geron of the Dallas Police Department
The sighting was the last time Hastings was seen alive.
The suspected driver allegedly crashed into a street sign nearby.
