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Sep 27, 2007 10:20 pm US/Central
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Police Arrest One In Case Of Killed Arlington Teen
Surveillance Camera Recorded Ernesto Reyes As He Dragged Body, Then Ignited Fire, Police Say
Carrollton PD establishes exclusive tipline at 972-466-4775
CARROLLTON (CBS 11 News) ―
Police have made an arrest in connection with the murder of UNT student Melanie Goodwin.
Officers say 19-year-old Donovan Young of Carrollton was taken into custody for tampering with evidence.
It's unknown what, if any, relation he has to Goodwin or Ernesto Reyes, the man police believe killed Goodwin.
Earlier Wednesday, police said surveillance video showing Reyes starting a fire at the location where a murder victim's body was found.
Footage from TransTech, an electronic payment processing company located at 3220 Keller Springs Road in Carrollton, revealed Ernesto Reyes dragged a body from a vehicle about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday and starting a fire, according to court documents.
The body was discovered later that morning and autopsy results alter determined the body was Melanie Goodwin, a University of North Texas student.
Wednesday afternoon police found Goodwin's car near the UNT campus in Denton.
Late Wednesday, police identified the man seen in the TransTech surveillance video as Ernesto Reyes, a 20-year-old Denton man. Officers issued an arrest warrant for Reyes charging him with murder.
Carrollton Police Department John Singleton told CBS 11 News, "It's certainly a consideration that he may have fled the metroplex. It's something that our investigators are aware of and are working to address, but at this point we don't know if he's still in the metroplex or otherwise."
Another surveillance video clip placed both Reyes and Goodwin at a QuikTrip convenience store in the 3700 block of S. Interstate 35E in Denton. On the tape – dated about 1:40 a.m. – Goodwin was seen talking to Reyes.
A salesclerk remembers the man asked a woman matching Goodwin's description for a ride. Investigators say the clerk remembers the two left the store together in the victim's red 2002 Saturn 2-door car.
Before leaving, the man made and received phone calls from the convenience store's phone. Those were traced to Andrea Alexander who identified the man calling her that morning as Reyes and said he was her boyfriend. The woman said she saw Reyes Tuesday evening and noticed burns on his forearms and singed hair, authorities said.
Hundreds of friends and family members gathered at a South Arlington church Wednesday night for a candlelight memorial for Goodwin.
"She's touched too many people for this to happen and go unnoticed," one friend, Joseph Capers, said.
Goodwin was well known in the youth programs of Theater Arlington. She enrolled at UNT in fall 2006.
The Denton County Medical Examiner said the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Carrollton police have set up a tipline specifically for leads in the Melanie Goodwin murder case. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call 972-466-4775.
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