He said that his first wife had died from a fall. Now the police say that he killed his second wife by stabbing

The text message was short and pleasant, but it made Esperanza Prada uncomfortable: "Mom, I love you so much"

Prada, who lives in Colombia, received the message from her daughter, Diana Alejandra Keel, unexpectedly on March 7, as indicated on ABC channel 11. However, it's the last thing anyone has heard from her.

On March 9, the daughter of Keel, a university student, announced her disappearance after no one could contact the 38-year-old woman, who was performing as a nurse. The circumstances were strange. She had not been working at the hospital for several days and had never warned her supervisors. Keel's car was still parked outside his home on Old County Home Road in Nashville, where he lived with his partner and their 10-year-old son. However, her husband, Rexford Lynn Keel Jr. did not seem very worried. When questioned by the police, he told the officers that he had seen his wife leave with "acquaintances" and was just waiting for her to come back.

However, a few days later, the authorities found Diana Keel's body in a place half an hour away from her home. There were traces of stabbing.

The following Sunday, the police arrested Rexford Keel, 57, for first degree murder; the police arrested him thousands of miles away near Tucson. They apprehended him on Interstate 10, located a few kilometers north of the Mexican border. He was driving his father 's 1998 Chevrolet truck and was carrying a lot of money. Everything seemed to indicate that he had fled North Carolina shortly after being interrogated by the police on March 13; the day after the discovery of his wife.

"We took a street badbadin today"Sheriff Keith Stone said at a press conference.

This is not the first time that one of Rexford Keel's wives has died, which is why the police continue to investigate him.

In the new year 2006, his first wife, Elizabeth Bess Edwards Keel, 42, died of brain trauma to the brain that allegedly caused an alleged fall on the porch of her house; or at least that was the version that Rexfor told the police.

In 2006, the coroner determined that Edwards Keel's death had been accidental, but this Sunday it was reported that the investigators had decided to reopen the case. This was good news for one of Edwards Keel's former collaborators, Matthew Lambert, who had told WRAL that at the time, he "thought that it was a good thing to have a job. was strange "that he fell down the stairs; She was "outside," she said, and she liked to ride. At the time, Keel was not a suspect in his death.

According to the archives of the Rocky Mount telegram, the couple married in 1982, shortly after graduating from the same high school. The announcement of their marriage indicates that Edwards Keel has worked at the Rocky Mount Sanitarium, a closed hospital since.

They lived together in a small white house at Old County Home Road; the same where she would lose her life.

"We will go back and look again at the information we gathered during the first incident, we will talk to the prosecutor's office, it is certainly an element to take into account," said the authorities responsible.

A police source revealed that Diana and Rexford Keel had been married for "a long time", At least a dozen years. Javier Guevara, Diana Keel's cousin, also in Colombia, told him ABC 11 that Diana had traveled to the United States to live the American dream.

However, the couple had "difficulties" in their marriage. A year ago, police responded to a family conflict that had occurred inside the house, although no further action was taken. Taryn Edwards, who has described herself as Diana Keel's best friend over the last decade, He described Rexford Keel as "controller".

"Verbal and emotional abuse was obvious to me "He said to ABC 11. "The atmosphere of the house was always very tense. He was often around and never allowed him to be alone with anyone for long periods of time. "

Her family and friends said Diana Keel planned to leave her husband and ask for a divorce. Prada told him ABC 11 that he knew that his daughter had the intention of talking about divorce; He called it the "month of change" and stated that Diana had planned to take her son away once he was gone.

Keels' son currently lives with other members of his family, while his daughter Laura, a freshman at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, the daughter-in-law of Rexford Keel, created a page of GoFundMe to help cover funeral expenses and "support my brother and me in the years to come"

"My priorities now are to ensure that my mother rests much more appropriately than her death and to ensure that my brother continues to feel the love that our mother shared with us on a daily basis," she said. she writes. "In doing so, I hope to honor my mother's legacy."

Rexford Keel remains in detention awaiting extradition to Arizona. We still do not know if he has a lawyer.