Family-Slay Murder Weapons Sought

Police are searching for a .22 caliber firearm and a "stabbing weapon" as they investigate a school administrator who is a suspect in the slayings of his estranged wife, three young children and mother-in-law, according to an officer's affidavit made public Thursday.

The affidavit accompanied a warrant that Bakersfield police sought to search a Bakersfield apartment and storage unit belonging to Vincent Brothers, 41. They obtained the search warrant Tuesday, less than two hours after they found the bodies of his five family members. He had been living separately from his wife at the time of the killings.

Autopsies of the victims showed they died from gunshot wounds, but the search warrant said "evidence at the crime scene ... indicates that a stabbing weapon was used."

Although police seized a computer from the storage unit, no murder weapons, blood evidence or clothing that may be linked to the crime scene were found, the documents state.

At the time the affidavit was filed, police said they had been unable to account for Brothers' whereabouts during the six days before a family friend discovered the bodies of his wife, Joanie Harper, 39; their three children, Marques Harper, 4, Lyndsey Harper, 23 months, and Marshall Harper, 1½ months; and Joanie Harper's mother, Earnestine Harper, 70.

Witness accounts indicate that while Brothers boarded a bus in Bakersfield headed to the Los Angeles airport on July 2, his blue S-10 pickup was seen parked in front of the victims' home on July 3, the affidavit states. The pickup was found at the Bakersfield airport bus terminal on Tuesday.

According to the affidavit, Brother's mother wasn't expecting him in North Carolina until July 8.

Since then, police have not said whether they have further pinpointed his movements in the days before the murders, but family and friends said Joanie Harper told them on July 4 that Brothers was visiting relatives in North Carolina.

Brothers was arrested Wednesday on probable cause in Elizabeth City, N.C. — where he said he had been visiting his mother — after turning himself into authorities there. He was released hours later because Bakersfield police said they did not have enough evidence to seek a formal arrest warrant and charges.

Brothers has refused to talk to police. His attorney, Curtis Floyd of Bakersfield, was in North Carolina and said a statement would be made at a news conference in Elizabeth City on Friday morning.

According to the affidavit, after hearing of the murders, Brothers contacted his school district, but never contacted police.

Police said that and Brothers' failure to provide an alibi were aspects that led to his arrest, but they acknowledged they had moved too fast.

"I have asked them (detectives) to take a step back and slow it down a bit," Bakersfield Police Chief Eric Matlock said Thursday. "It does not mean we are pursuing other leads than we were before. We just want to do this right ... We will be meticulous, methodical and relentless in our investigation."

Bakersfield Police Capt. Neil Mahan said the decision to release Brothers was based in part on information obtained from Ohio. He would not elaborate, but said detectives were en route to that state Thursday.

Brothers is under no travel restrictions and does not have to return to Bakersfield while detectives continue their investigation.

"As far as that's concerned, if he wanted to board a plane to Costa Rica today, he could," said Frank Parrish, a district attorney in North Carolina whose authority covers Elizabeth City.

Mahan would not say whether Brothers would be under surveillance. He said Brothers is still considered the only "potential suspect."

"We have obtained the evidence we sought," Mahan said. "Now we move on to the next stage where the bar is raised to obtain a (criminal) complaint."

Mahan said earlier that Brothers could be rearrested but he acknowledged police were also trying to determine whether anyone else would have had a motive for the killings.

Elizabeth City detective Robin Vanscoy said that while Brothers was voluntarily waiting for Bakersfield police to arrive at the jail on Wednesday, he allowed police to swab a DNA sample from the inside of his mouth. Investigators had also gathered evidence from Brother's mother's home in Elizabeth City, Vanscoy said.

After a brief marriage, Joanie Harper and Brothers were granted an annulment in September 2001 and Harper was given sole custody of Marques and Lyndsey, court records show. But they remarried on Jan. 25 of this year in Las Vegas, according to Clark County, Nevada records.

Brothers worked at Emerson Junior High School — across the street from the victims' home — from 1989 to 1996. Bakersfield City School District officials said Thursday that Brothers was still employed at Emerson Junior High School and was scheduled to return to work Aug. 5, 2003.

His friends have stood by him, reports CBS News Correspondent Manuel Gallegus, and say it just isn't in his character to be capable of such a gruesome crime.

"He's highly respected by the education community and by the children and by the families of children at the school," said Bakersfield City Council member Irma Carson.

Carson, a former police officer who knew Earnestine Harper and Brothers well, said a "healing event" was planned for the community at the Christian Compassion Center on Friday evening in Bakersfield.

Meanwhile, crime scene investigators remained at the victims' home Thursday as streams of people left flowers, stuffed animals, cards and candles along a fence in front of the single-story yellow stucco house.

"We didn't know the family. We just wanted to pay our respects," said Ron Armstrong, wiping a tear from the cheek of his wife Joann. "This is hometown," he said. "I was raised here. To take the lives of three kids, I just can't understand it."