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| Jerry Active |
A man charged with
murdering an elderly couple and sexually assaulting their two year old
grandchild had been released from prison just hours earlier after serving time
for a similar attack.
Jerry Active, 24, broke
in to the house where Touch Chea, 71, and his wife, Sorn Sreap, 73, were
babysitting their granddaughter and allegedly beat the couple to death and
raped the little girl.
The toddler's parents
returned to their home in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday night to find Active naked in their
bedroom with the two-year-old.
A few hours earlier
Active had been released on probation after serving part of a seven-year
sentence for a similar crime committed in 2009.
Active broke into a
house and sexually assaulted an 11-year-old while her
parents were asleep, before attacking three members of the family.
The 24-year-old was
convicted for the attack in Dillingham, Alaska, after a guilty plea but it has
not been made clear why Active was allowed on probation.
He was first released on
the case on October 2, 2011, but violated probation and was sent back to prison
two days later, according to records.
Since then, he has been
in and out of prison after committing other probation violations.
Victims Mr Chea and Ms
Sreap both suffered significant blunt force injuries, and police said both
Sreap and the toddler were raped.
Officers arrested Active
as he fled the east Anchorage homicide scene wearing just his boxer shorts.
The registered sex
offender has been charged with first and second-degree murder, sexual assault
and burglary, with bail set at $1.5 million.
Police said the younger
couple, who are in their twenties, went to a movie on Saturday night with their
son and left the two-year-old in the care of Chea and Sreap.
They returned shortly
before 8pm and found the door locked from the inside by the chain, but were
able to spot the body of one of their grandparents from outside.
The father told police
he forced his way in through a window and found the bodies of Chea and Sreap
before discovering a naked man in the bedroom with their daughter.
The mother called police
and dispatchers said they heard screaming over the phone as the woman, who is
pregnant, reported that a man had broken into her home and killed 73-year-old
Ms Sreap.
The couple tried to
apprehend Active but he was able to get away
after a short struggle, Police Sergeant Slawomir Markiewicz said.
Officers found Active
about a block away wearing nothing but his boxers.
'He did offer some
resistance but he was arrested,' Markiewicz said.
The suspect apparently
entered the apartment through a window, Markiewicz said.
The two-year-old was
taken to hospital for a forensic physical examination, and it was discovered
that she had also been physically assaulted.
She was taken to a
hospital where she underwent surgery for her injuries.
Investigators were
affected by the brutality and the ages of the victims, police department
spokeswoman Anita Shell said.
'They said this was the
worst thing they had ever seen in their lives, and these are seasoned
detectives,' Shell said.
Police Sergeant
Markiewicz said that there are no indications that the victims were connected
to the suspect.
'It doesn't appear that
he knew them,' he said. 'It looks like a totally random act.'
The victims were part of
an extended family that lived in a ground-floor, east Anchorage apartment with
their granddaughter and her husband, who are the parents of the toddler and her
four-year-old brother.
The younger couple's
90-year-old great-grandmother also lives in the apartment and was at home
during the incident.
Markiewicz said the case
is unusual.
'It's certainly very
rare to see this kind of violence - a complete stranger, sexually assaulting
and murdering someone,' he said.
The bodies of Sreap and
Chea were taken to the state medical examiner's office for autopsies.
Names of the toddler and
her parents were withheld.
Culled from DAILY MAIL
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