A Covington man was booked with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two people whose badly burned bodies were discovered behind a business in downtown Covington early Monday morning, Covington police said.
The bodies have not yet been publicly identified.
Antonio Donde Tyson, 49, was also booked with two counts of second-degree kidnapping, one count of possession of stolen things, two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of resisting an officer, Covington police said.
A second person is being interviewed in connection with the killings, Masters said, but police have not yet determined whether that person is a suspect.
The bodies were discovered behind Dependable Glass, a business in the 500 block of Gibson Street, when employees arrived for the workday around 7 a.m.
Sgt. Edwin Masters, a Covington Police Department spokesperson, said evidence at the scene indicates the deaths are homicides.
The St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office will perform autopsies on the bodies Tuesday, a spokesperson for that agency said.
The crime stunned Covington residents.
"You like to think Covington is immune to these tragedies, but we're not," Mayor Mark Johnson he said.
Tyson was recently released from Rayburn Correctional Facility prison after pleading guilty in 1993 to one count of forcible rape, one count or armed robbery and one count of burglary, according to court records. He was sentenced to 40 years and served 30.
One other person of interest is being questioned in the case.
Check back with NOLA.com for more on this developing story.