EL RENO, Okla. — A community college student who was strangled along with her four young children had just broken off her relationship with the burly ex-convict now accused of the slayings, the woman’s mother said Wednesday.
Joshua Steven Durcho, 25, was arrested Tuesday night in Hamilton County, Texas, officials said. Durcho waived extradition following a brief court hearing Wednesday and is expected to be returned to Oklahoma early today.
Prosecutors in Oklahoma charged Durcho with five counts of first-degree murder Tuesday, a day after an El Reno police officer conducting a welfare check found 25-year-old Summer Garas and her children dead in their apartment in the Oklahoma City suburb. The children ranged in age from 3 to 7.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty, Assistant District Attorney Paul Hesse said.
