Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Man caught, charged in double slaying

Joshua James Engel told Georgia police who arrested him that he stabbed his grandmother and his aunt in their New Port Richey home.

After a 12-hour stakeout, Georgia authorities arrested a man Sunday and charged him with the slaying of his grandmother and aunt in New Port Richey.

Joshua James Engel, 27, admitted stabbing Dorothy Mae Thompson, 68, and her daughter, 46-year-old Debra J. Thompson, said police in McDonough, Ga.

The women were found dead Saturday morning in the Runnel Drive home they shared with Engel and his wife, Kelly.

McDonough police and neighboring authorities spent nearly 12 hours watching a Budget Inn where Engel had checked in under a different name. Engel gave up without incident, said McDonough police Chief Preston Dorsey. Dorsey said Engel will appear before a judge in Georgia today but is expected to be transferred to Florida to face murder charges.

Engel told police he stabbed both women after an argument, Dorsey said.

"He didn't say why," Dorsey said. "He was very vague. The only thing we know is that some type of argument ensued. He ended up stabbing the aunt first, then stabbing the grandmother."

After the slayings, Engel told police he showered and headed north in his brown conversion van with his wife, who is blind, Dorsey said.

On Saturday, Engel checked into the motel off Interstate 75 around 1 p.m., manager Bob Patel said.

Within 30 minutes, authorities arrived. Patel said about 20 officers quickly set up a perimeter.

"The police blocked off the entire motel," Patel said. "They did not allow anybody to go out and they did not allow anyone to go in."

Dorsey said authorities evacuated all the rooms except Engel's. He said Engel was unaware the police had surrounded his room. Authorities suspected he might be armed, so they waited for him to come out.

Police waited while Engel's relatives talked with him by phone. They urged him to leave the room but did not say police were waiting for him outside.

About 12:45 a.m. Sunday, Dorsey had a hostage negotiator call Engel's room. They talked for 30 minutes, until Engel gave himself up.

He was unarmed. Police found a loaded, 12-gauge shotgun in his van.

"He was very cooperative and very polite," Dorsey said. " "Yes sir' and "no sir.' Anything we asked him to do, he did."

Kelly Engel was not charged. Her family came down from North Carolina and stayed with her Saturday night, Dorsey said.

"We were concerned that she may have been in a hostage situation," Pasco County Sheriff's Lt. Skip Stone said. "We weren't sure. We didn't feel that she had anything to do with this crime."

The Pasco Sheriff's Office would not confirm any other details Sunday about the crime or Engel's arrest.

William Mazzarese, who owns the one-story home where the women were killed, said he returned Sunday to clean. He hopes to give the victims' belongings to family members and rent the house again.

Dorothy Thompson lived there about 21/2 years, Mazzarese said, and was a good, quiet tenant. He didn't know Debra Thompson or the Engels.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Engel has no criminal record other than a 2001 DUI and reckless driving arrest to which he pleaded no contest.