Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Columbia police have arrested a man who they say shot and killed a woman, then stabbed her 3-year-old child to death.
Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook said Kenneth Canzater, 33, has been arrested in Corona, California
Back on January 9, 2011, the bodies of 25-year-old Candra Alston and Malaysia Boykin were found in their home at the Brook Pines Apartments.
Alston has been shot one time in the head, while Boykin had been stabbed multiple times. Thursday was the first time their cause of death had every been revealed publicly. Back when the crime took place, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts called it one of the worst crime scenes he'd ever seen.
Through cell phone records, investigators determined the two had died two days earlier.
In the days following the killing, Canzater had been identified as an acquaintance of the victims, but denied any involvement. He claimed he had not been in their apartment since New Year's Eve.
Investigators had found a partial bloody palmprint at the scene, but couldn't match it to anyone at that time.
In November of 2011, investigators learned that he'd been arrested in California for a probation violation, and did a DNA swab.
A test in March of 2013, was also inconclusive, but it did say there were four people it couldn't exclude from being present.
However, in February 2017, they were able to retest the samples, and it came back positive for Canzater. Holbrook credits improved technology with making the breakthrough.
This month, Columbia police and the U.S. Marshals Service went to California in March, and were able to find Canzater in a motel in Corona.
They're working to extradite him back to South Carolina.
"This case has truly pulled at the heartstings of the community and this department," Holbrook said.
