Edyson Rafael Arias
Edyson Rafael Arias is still being held in New Orleans prior to being returned to Hamilton County to face murder charges in the death of Jennifer Jill Henderson, Sheriff John Cupp said.
Arias was arrested in New Orleans early Friday morning.
The homeless drifter who was "a known violent felon" is charged in the murder of the health department employee who had told a friend she was being stalked.
Arias, 34, was taken into custody in front of the Superdome.
Ms. Henderson, also 34, was found murdered in her home Monday morning.
Andy Derryberry, chief deputy sheriff, earlier said authorities were checking out "very promising leads" in the slaying of the 34-year-old Ms. Henderson.
He said her body was found lying in the floor of her home at 9814 Dallas Hollow Road near Soddy-Daisy about 9 a.m.
He said relatives had become concerned about her and called for a deputy to go with them to check out the house.
Chief Derryberry said a number of extended family members live nearby, and he said Mrs. Henderson had two children.
He said, "There were obvious signs she had been murdered." An autopsy was performed Tuesday morning at the medical examiner's on Amnicola Highway and showed she was stabbed multiple times.
Chief Derryberry said Mrs. Henderson worked at the homeless shelter on E. 11th Street.
Mrs. Henderson reportedly told a friend at a wrestling tournament on Saturday about being stalked.
Chief Derryberry earlier said the victim's vehicle was missing. He said it is a black 2001 Isuzu Rodeo with a University of Tennessee license plate UT4559.
Chief Derryberry said Arias was arrested without incident. He said Hamilton County officers had been tailing him through North Florida, Southern Alabama and Southern Louisiana.
He said Arias is an illegal immigrant from Honduras and had been deported by U.S. Immigration authorities in 1998 but slipped back into the country.
His criminal record includes arrests for aggravated harassment, aggravated sexual abuse, domestic assault, burglary and unlawful imprisonment. Those arrests were from 1992 to 1996 in Vermont and New York.
Chief Derryberry said Arias met Mrs. Henderson at the homeless clinic here, and "she had been having problems with him harassing her for the past several months."
Asked if she had written a note about the harassment, he said there was "documentation."
He said she apparently had never gone to the police with her concerns.
He declined to say what relationship Mrs. Henderson had with Arias and whether she had been sexually assaulted. He said the complete autopsy was not back.
Chief Derryberry said the missing Isuzu had been spotted at Dublin, Ga., with Arias sleeping in it, but that was before the body was discovered.
The vehicle has not been recovered. He declined to say whether the knife had been found.