SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The man arrested in the deaths of six people methodically gunned down in what became known as the 'thrill killer' case led the unassuming life of a loner and roamed the streets at night clad in a trenchcoat.
Although authorities have said they believe the suspect, Eric Royce Leonard, 22, killed for personal satisfaction, detectives Friday hoped to learn more about his alleged motive after interviewing him.
Leonard was arrested Thursday night at his father's house and was booked into the Sacramento County Jail. He was scheduled to be arraigned Monday and will be charged with six counts of murder and robbery, homicide detective Lt. Ray Biondi said.
The arrest ended a 3 -month manhunt for the killer, who terrorized businesses and residents on Sacramento's north side, some 10 miles from the state Capitol.
The killings occurred at a convenience store and a pizza parlor.
'We didn't think the person was still around. We thought he might never be caught. And now to think the person was still so close to us is chilling,' said Burt Karr, 36, assistant manager of the Round Table Pizza parlor, who cleaned up pools of blood after three of his employees were slain.
'The biggest question that needs to be answered is, 'Why? Not only 'Why did you pick these places?' but 'Why did you do it at all?' Karr said.
Police were asking the same questions Friday.
Karr said a lot of his customers have been scared off since the killings, despite the hiring of an armed guard.
The killer first struck Feb. 12 at a small Quik-Stop market, slaying two clerks and a customer about 11 p.m.
A week later, almost to the minute, the three clerks were shot to death at the Round Table Pizza parlor a mile away.
No eyewitnesses were found at either murder scene.
But a team of detectives up to 90-strong scoured the area for clues, conducting hundreds of interviews, stopping suspicious pedestrians and chasing down nearly 700 leads.
The case captured national attention and was featured on the television shows, 'America's Most Wanted' and '48 Hours.' A $25,000 reward was posted for the killer, and the Guardian Angels street patrol moved into the neighborhood for a while.
The similarities in the slaying, as well as the fact that only small amounts of money stolen, convinced detectives they were looking for someone who killed for the thrill of it.
From hundreds of interviews, they concluded the killer was a loner in a trenchcoat who lived in the area and traveled on foot.
Leonard fit the profile. He became a suspect soon after the pizza parlor murders. The 5-foot, 6-inch innocuous looking young man liked to roam the streets on foot at night and often wore a trenchcoat.
Officers cruising the neighborhood spotted Leonard on the street the day after the Round Table murders and got his name and address. He lived in an apartment a block from the scene of the first slayings.
Five days later detectives suspected Leonard might be the trenchcoated man seen hanging around the pizza parlor. They questioned him, but didn't learn enough to link him to the killings.
'At that time, there wasn't anything we could develop to pin him down as a suspect,' Sgt. Richard Madrigal said.
Eventually, after a second interview, Leonard became a prime suspect. Detectives found .25-caliber bullets -- the same caliber used in the murders -- in Leonard's apartment, and he told them they were for his father's Beretta pistol.
The elder Leonard willingly handed over his gun, believing ballistics tests would clear his son. But the tests confirmed it was the murder weapon, detectives said.
'It's the biggest treasure of evidence in the case,' Madrigal said.
Leonard was arrested shortly after 8:30 p.m. Thursday at his father's house in suburban Rio Linda.
Apparently, the father had no idea of his son's alleged involvement in the slayings, investigators said.
Leonard's landlady, Robin Gonzalez, told The Sacramento Bee that her tenant lived alone, was clean and dependable, and always paid the $375- a-month rent on time.
'He's such a neat little guy,' Gonzalez said.
Leonard graduated from Rio Linda High School in June 1988, but Principal Richard Nelson said he didn't know him.
'People at the staff meeting (Friday) indicated they didn't have any recollection of him,' Nelson said in a telephone interview.
He said Leonard didn't stand out, so probably was neither a brilliant student nor a troublemaker.
Leonard was unemployed and had attended American River College in suburban Sacramento. He was arrested once for petty theft and cited, but had no other criminal record.
