Mayor Gary Skelton of Leggett, Nc and his wife were murdered

Eight hours after the death of a mayor of North Carolina and his wife, police announced the arrest of a suspect in their murders.

The police did not initially release the names of the victims – whose bodies were discovered Thursday night in Leggett, North Carolina – at the request of the family. The city commissioner, however, confirmed to local affiliate NBC, WRAL, that it was Mayor Gary Skelton and his wife, Jackie Dawn Skelton.

"The terror they must have felt, going through what they lived, is unimaginable," said city commissioner Teresa Summerlin at WRAL. "It's unimaginable what they came home last night, that's what makes me sick, how they must have felt.

"It makes me sick and they were the epitome of good people, they were incredibly good."

In a press conference on Friday morning, Edgecombe County Sheriff, Cleveland Atkinson, said a local man, identified as 25-year-old Keith Earl Williams, had been arrested and charged with murder. in the first degree.

A second man, whose name has not been released, is also detained on charges unrelated to the police, Atkinson added.

He credited the cooperation of several law enforcement agencies for Williams' quick arrest.

Leggett, 55 inhabitants, is about 70 miles from Raleigh.

Police checked the Skeltons' home after Jackie Skelton's workmates at Vidant Edgewater hospital in Tarboro became alarmed when she did not show up at her nursing job Thursday. early, reported The Charlotte Observer.

Atkinson also apologized to the Skelton family for the premature release of the couple's name, even though the leak did not come from his department.

The deaths occur just two months after the discovery of Andy Green, the former mayor of the nearby town of Fremont, North Carolina, shot down on a property he owned, according to WRAL.