Devoe: Suspect in cross-country murder spree booked into Travis County jail

From wire and staff reports

AUSTIN (AP) - The man accused of killing six people in a cross-country rampage including a Marble Falls bartender was booked into Travis County Jail Thursday afternoon, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Paul Devoe III, 44, was extradited from New York to Texas Thursday in the company of two law enforcement officials, said Roger Ward, a spokesman for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. They used a state aircraft loaned by the Department of Public Safety, Ward said.

“This case was unique in that he is alleged to have killed six people,” Ward said. “We took a few more precautions with him.”

Devoe faces one charge of intentional murder with other charges expected to be filed, Ward said. No initial court appearance has been scheduled, he said.

Devoe is accused of killing six people in Central Texas and Pennsylvania last month. Among them were his 46-year-old ex-girlfriend and three others at a home near Austin. Authorities say he also killed Michael Jay Allred, 41, in Marble Falls before the quadruple slaying, and then fatally shot an 81-year-old woman in Pennsylvania and stole her car as he fled from Texas to New York.

Devoe told the Long Island newspaper Newsday in a jailhouse interview this week that he was on a drinking binge when the shootings occurred and had suffered a rattlesnake bite in the week before the shootings.

During the interview Tuesday, Devoe buried his face in his hands and wept as he recalled the events leading up to his arrest.

“I am truly sorry for what I did and the people I hurt,” he said. “I never meant to hurt anybody in any shape or form. I don’t know what happened.”

He also said Allred’s death was an accident. According to court documents, Devoe went into O’Neill’s Sports Tavern on Marble Falls’ Main Street Aug. 24 intending to kill another ex-girlfriend, but she escaped. Allred was killed when he tried to talk Devoe into handing over the gun.

Allred’s shooting is the only one he members, Devoe told the newspaper.

Devoe’s apologies rang hollow to family members of victims in Texas.

“He can say it, but you know, actions have spoken a lot louder than words at this point,” Jonathon Griffith said in a story in Thursday’s Austin American-Statesman.

Griffith’s mother Paula Griffith, 46, and sister Haylie Marie Faulkner, 15, were among the victims.

At one point in his jailhouse interview, Devoe said he was haunted by the deaths, adding, “All I hear is screams.”

Christina Gribble, the mother of 17-year-old Danielle Hensley, a victim of the quadruple slaying, said the description of screams was especially hurtful because of Devoe’s statements that he didn’t remember what happened.

“That ripped my heart out,” Gribble said.

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Suspect in cross-country murder spree booked into Travis County jail