HAMPTON, S.C., May 8 (UPI) -- Investigators were searching Sunday for a Hampton, S.C., police officer accused of child molestation and murder, CNN reported.
Daniel William Hiers was accused of molesting an 11-year-old girl he met through a karate class. When Hiers failed to turn himself in to face charges March 15, police found his wife, Mila Cohe de Araujo, dead at their home. Investigators said she was shot while she slept, and neighbors said they witnessed Hiers going in and out of the house around the time of the killing.
A surveillance camera recorded Hiers at a gas station several hours later withdrawing several hundred dollars from the store's ATM. An international manhunt was launched following the disappearance.
Police said Hiers may have been preparing to flee since the molestation charges first arose, growing a beard and gaining weight. They said a grainy picture taken with a friend's cellular phone camera before he disappeared shows Hiers experimenting with his appearance.
