Henry J. Segura had lived a quiet life since his recent move to southern Minnesota, but he must have been on someone's radar.
Just before 6:30 a.m. Friday, as Segura was leaving his home on Lake Jefferson for work, he was arrested on charges that he murdered his girlfriend and her three children last year in Florida, said Le Sueur County Sheriff Tom Doherty.
Segura, 31, previously from Tallahassee, Fla., has been living and working in Kasota and Ottawa for about a month as a certified welder for Unimin, one of the nation's largest sand producers.
Segura is now in the county jail pending a hearing to extradite him to Tallahassee.
He was charged Thursday in the November 2010 killings of his 27-year-old girlfriend, Brandi Peters, her 6-year-old twin girls, Tamiyah and Taniyah, and 3-year-old Javante, Segura and Peters' son.
Segura ended up in Minnesota because "he just followed the work," Doherty said.
He was renting part of a house on Lake Jefferson and drew no attention to himself, Doherty said.
Police in Tallahassee and the U.S. Marshal's Service alerted local authorities to Segura's whereabouts, the sheriff said. Officers just "waited for him to come out" of the house, Doherty said.
Segura offered no resistance, but a shotgun was found in his pickup truck, said U.S. Marshal's Service spokesman Thomas Volk, whose agency assisted in the arrest.
Police in Tallahassee have not disclosed how the mother and children were killed, but Doherty said he doesn't believe that the gun found in the pickup was used in the killings. No details were given about how Segura was located in Minnesota.
Police discovered the four bodies the morning of Nov. 20 at Peters' home. There was no sign of forced entry.
The Bradenton Herald in Florida reported on Nov. 23 that Peters had taken the two fathers of her children to court for child support in the months before her death.
Segura was ordered to pay her more than $700 a month for his son's support, and more until he made up overdue payments totaling more than $20,000.
Peters' online obituary said she was an employee of What-A-Burger in Tallahassee who did hairstyling and loved crocheting.
On Friday, Peters' neighbor, Leon Scott, told WTXL-TV in Tallahassee that the killings were "just tragic."
"Now, they found somebody, so everybody is just happy that that happened," he said.
The Rev. Joseph Wright of Tallahassee, who knew Peters' family, told a WTXL reporter that Friday's arrest in Minnesota came on a fortuitous day.
"Today of all days is the twins' birthday," he said. "So what a day to apprehend the perpetrator who committed the crimes."
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
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