NASH COUNTY, N.C. — The hunt for the Nash County man accused of murdering his wife ended more than 2,000 miles away from where it started.
Arizona State Police arrested 57-year-old Lynn Keel on Interstate 10 in Arizona Sunday morning.
"I’m just glad that we got a killer off the road and we brought some closure to this case,” said Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone.
Stone says his office got a tip Sunday morning that Lynn was in Arizona.
He says Lynn was driving his parents Chevy pickup and he had a large amount of cash on him, as well as bank receipts.
"I have speculations, as would anybody, if you’re that close to the Mexican border and you’ve got a large amount of cash on you but as far as any substantial information or credible information I can only speculate on that matter,” Stone said.
Stone says Lynn had a pocket knife on him. He says police didn't find any guns that he knows of but says law enforcement had not finished searching his car.
He says Lynn went with police peacefully.
"To clear up any misconceptions of asking why we weren’t on him following him, we didn’t have any arrest warrants at the time that he left and the vehicle that he left in was his parent’s vehicle,” said Stone. “Both of his vehicles had been seized and we have possession of those vehicles."
Stone says Lynn Keel stabbed his 38-year-old wife, Diana Keel, to death. We've learned Lynn’s first wife died in 2006. Her death was ruled accidental.
CBS 17’s Kelly Kennedy asked Stone if he plans on reopening the investigation into the death of Keel’s first wife.
"We’re gonna work all the leads on that and we’re gonna go back and look at the information we had from the first incident reports,” said Stone. “We’re gonna talk with the district attorney’s office, but definitely it’s something we need to be looking at."
Even though Lynn Keel is behind bars people in this community who knew Diana are still hurting. People left flowers and messages on the front porch of the home
"Her mom and my mom were friends so that sort of made us friends,” said Trysten Edwards, talking about Diana’s 18-year-old daughter. “She’d come here to church and we sort of became friends."
Trysten Edwards went to school with Diana’s 18-year-old daughter. CBS 17 spoke with his mother earlier this week. He says Lynn has always given him an uneasy feeling.
"If I ever went to their house he just had something about him that sort of put you off. He had this sort of controlling attitude about him like he had to have control over everything."
Stone and his team will head to Arizona Monday morning to extradite Lynn Keel to North Carolina.