Double homicide

PECOS Like many in Pecos, Joe Portillo was in shock when he heard Richard and Alicia Cherry had been killed.

"They were one of our customers," said Portillo, who manages Rita's Flowers and Cakes down the street from the bar where the couple was found dead.

"Richard and Alicia were very sweet people," he said.

Portillo said the couple frequented his shop.

"Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, they always bought flowers from us," he said. "They bought a lot of flowers from us."

Investigators were searching late Thursday for a 50-year-old "person of interest" in connection with the slaying of the Pecos couple found stabbed to death Wednesday afternoon.

Police Chief Clay McKinney said he'd identified a 50-year-old Pecos man as a person of interest. The man has brown hair, blue eyes, is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs around 150 pounds.

McKinney said officers were called about 4:17 p.m. Wednesday to D.J.'s Roundup Bar on West Third Street after family members discovered the bodies Richard and Alicia Cherry.

"The family was originally worried after the two didn't answer their cell phones," McKinney said. "The family went to the bar and found the bodies and then called police."

McKinney said the slayings happened between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 4:17 p.m. Wednesday.

Family members have also reported Richard Cherry's Gray 1995 Ford F-350 pickup as stolen.

McKinney said the pickup with license plate number 8DF-V60 hadn't been found late Thursday.

McKinney said he hadn't had much trouble out of the bar in the past.

"It's a small bar here in town," McKinney said. "I haven't heard of anything bad happening out of that bar."

Lorrie Orona, an employee of the Del Rio Bar, 504 E. Fourth St., said the double homicide has left Pecos residents in fear for their safety.

"A lot of people are scared now," she said. "Everybody's more cautious around here now."