KENNER, La. -- A week-long manhunt for an accused killer is over. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said deputies arrested 39-year-old Carlos Rodriguez early Sunday morning in Kenner.
Rodriguez escaped from the parish jail in Covington last Sunday and was found hiding in a church in the 2100 block of Bruin Drive in Kenner. His re-capture happened exactly one year after Mario Scramuzza's murder.
"I told him, 'Detective, my prayers have been answered. Thank God,'" said Mario Scramuzza, Sr., the victim's father.
Rodriguez was on the run for a week, after he broke out of the St. Tammany Parish Jail. He was awaiting trial, in the murder for hire of paramedic Mario Scramuzza. Investigators believe Scramuzza's wife, Gina, hired Rodriguez to kill her husband.
"It puts a hole, it even puts a tear into your heart -- my heart, my former wife, to my son's 14-year-old son, too," Scramuzza said. "To the whole family."
Rodriguez was from Kenner and investigators concentrated on that area during the week-long manhunt. A tip eventually led deputies to the "Iglesia Bautista Hispana," a Spanish-language church in Kenner, where they found Rodriguez hiding inside.
"I guess a lot of people think, somebody facing those charges would try to get as far away as possible," said Kenner Police Chief Steve Caraway. "Maybe that was his plan ultimately, I don't know. But, certainly, it's good news that he was caught, period, regardless of where it was."
The pastor of the church told Eyewitness News that Rodriguez's family members attend services there.
"They are members of this church," said Pastor David Lema. "They are suffering and very upset about this whole situation."
Lema said he had no idea Rodriguez was even in the church, until police notified him Sunday morning about what had happened. He said Rodriguez used to go to church there as a child, but he hadn't seen him in years.
"I think he was here because when he was young, around 8 years old, he used to come with his family here," Lema said. "He was baptized here and grew up here. But it's been at least 15 or 20 years since he had been here."
In the meantime, with Rodriguez back in custody, Mario Scramuzza said he is ready for the next step.
"Let's go all the way and let justice prevail," Scramuzza said. "Let's just put him away, put him away."
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office would not comment on Rodriguez's capture Sunday. In a statement e-mailed to Eyewitness News, Spokesman George Bonnett said they plan to discuss the case with the media on Monday.
Three others have been arrested in the case for aiding in the escape: 20-year-old Jacob Jones, who allegedly picked Rodriguez up from the jail after he escaped and drove him to the Southshore, 27-year-old Boyd Allen Earl, who allegedly was a passenger in the getaway car, and 59-year-old Carole Pardo, who allegedly gave Rodriguez cash after he escaped to aid in his getaway.
