OKEMAH, Okla., Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Police in Oklahoma said they have charged a suspect with shooting and killing two young girls more than three years ago.
Charges against Kevin Sweat, 25, include two counts of first-degree murder, and prosecutors said they were "in an appropriate position to go forward in this case," CNN reported.
Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and her best friend Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, of Henryetta, died after being shot multiple times June 4, 2008, while walking near Paschal-Placker's rural Weleetka home.
Max Cook, district attorney for Creek and Okfuskee counties, said he has officially requested Sweat be eligible for the death penalty if convicted of killing Paschal-Placker and Whitaker.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Director Stan Florence said Sweat had not been considered a suspect until his arrest this year on charges of killing his girlfriend, Ashley Taylor.
Florence said investigators don't think Sweat knew Paschal-Placker and Whitaker.
"We just believe that he happened to be in the area that day," Florence said.
Citing court documents, CNN reported Sweat told investigators in September he had been driving at the spot where the girls' bodies were subsequently found when he saw "two monsters" coming toward him and fired a Glock .40 handgun, as well as a .22 handgun.
Sweat was linked to the crime scene by ballistics tests on shell casings near the bodies, as well as casings retrieved from Sweat's father's farm, CNN said.
