A Virginia lady has been arrested on murder charges in connection with the “heinous” killings of her three roommates.
Alyssa Jane Venable, 23, was detained in New York State on Thursday, a day after her roommates were discovered dead in their Fredericksburg, Va., home, according to a statement released later that day by the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office.
The victims, Robert John McGuire, 77, Carol Anne Reese, 65, and Gregory Scott Powell, 60, were found with “upper body trauma,” according to the sheriff’s office’s original statement.
Authorities responded to their residence on Tuesday, June 4, after receiving a request for a welfare check, according to police.
The request was made by a friend of Venable’s who was concerned after she allegedly made troubling statements, according to WUSA 9 and authorities.
Prior to her arrest, Venable’s grandmother raised concern for the suspect’s safety, alleging she was a risk to herself and “in desperate need of help.”
“I pray that the authorities are looking for her as a person in danger, because we believe she is in danger, if not from someone else, then from herself,” Venable’s grandmother, Jane Venable, told WUSA 9.
The defendant, from Spotsylvania, Va., was caught two days later after a chase by New York State troopers, the sheriff’s office claimed in a subsequent statement.
The pursuit began after troopers recognized her vehicle from the description provided by Virginia officials, according to the statement, and Venable allegedly refused to stop at a traffic stop initiated by law enforcement. She was eventually apprehended after her car crashed when police used a tire deflation device.
Police did not provide a cause of death for the deceased and did not reveal a suspected motive. The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s inquiry for comment.
It was unclear whether Venable had filed a plea or hired an attorney to speak on her behalf.