SOUTHGATE, Mich. – A 33-year-old man faces murder charges after a 28-year-old mother and her young son were violently killed in their Southgate apartment over the weekend.
The bodies of Courtney Durr and 10-year-old Sumari Das were found Sunday night at the La Colonnade apartments on Northline Road.
Antoine Terrail Beck, 33, is charged with two counts of first degree murder, larceny of a building and unlawful driving away of a vehicle.
Video: Full Southgate police press conference on murders
William Gates lives across from Durr's apartment and said he heard family members break through the door.
"They ran in and they were just hysterical, saying, 'They're both dead.' They handed me the phone because they were trying to call 911 and I made the 911 call," Gates said.
Director of Public Safety Thomas Coombs said Beck was Durr's boyfriend. Coombs said the two had been dating for a couple of months after he helped Durr move into the apartment. Coombs also said the suspect was released from prison last year after serving 10 years for armed robbery.
Beck had been living at the apartment with Durr and her son, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's office.
Coombs said an official cause of death for the victims would come from the medical examiner's office but the two appear to have been attacked with a Leatherman tool -- which was collected as evidence at the scene.
At Beck's arraignment Monday afternoon, police said Durr was found with her hands bound and her throat slit. She had ligature marks signaling she may have been strangled. Sumari also had strangulation marks.
Beck is being held at the Wayne County Jail without bond. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for June 12, followed by a preliminary examination on June 27.