Arrest made in murder of Dallas teen Zoe Hastings
DALLAS -- Dallas Police have made an arrest in the murder case of 18-year-old Zoe Hastings.
Antonio Lamar Cochran, 34, has been arrested on a charge of capital murder, Maj. Max Geron of the Dallas Police Department said during a press conference on Saturday, according to CBS Dallas. DNA evidence collected at the crime scene led to the arrest Saturday morning.
"I want to extend our sincere appreciation and thanks to the Hastings family for their patience and support in what I can only imagine is the most difficult event they've ever been through," Geron said.
Results of the DNA testing matched Cochran, who was already in the database, Geron said. Cochran also matched descriptions given by witnesses who saw Hastings' abduction from a Walgreens.
Geron said Cochran did not know Hastings prior to the abduction, and police do not know a motive.
"He is obviously a sexual predator that's been taken off the streets," Geron said.
The results came in late Friday night, Geron said. Once given to detectives assigned to the case, it took less than eight hours to find and arrest Cochran in an apartment in northeast Dallas Saturday morning.
"This truly was a community policing success," Geron said, "given the involvement and the cooperation of citizens and police."
Geron called the outpour of community support for police and the Hastings family during the investigation "refreshing."
"This family, as you can imagine, is grieving," Shonn Brown, a spokeswoman for the Hastings family, said, "but is also happy about the way this community came together because it is representative of the way that Zoe lived her life -- a life that she lived for others, recognizing a power that was greater than herself."
Records indicate Cochran is in Dallas County Jail on $2.5 million bond.