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Son Held In Death Of Parents In Lowell, Indiana

Thomas_Snow
Thomas Snow

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Police have arrested the son of a couple who were found dead in their Northwest Indiana home last week.

Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said on Monday that Thomas Snow, 34, was arrested in Minnesota.

He was pulled over for a traffic violation in his parents' car and then tried to flee, police said.

Snow is the primary suspect in the death of his parents, Cliff and Joyce Snow, but has not been formally charged with the crimes. He is also a person of interest in a gas station robbery in Newton County.

Cliff and Joyce Snow, of Lowell, Ind., were found dead Friday in their home in the 14500 block of W. 197th Ave., east of Indiana 41 near the Illinois state line. The bodies were in a state of "severe decomposition," Buncich said.

Their daughter, who lives out of state, had called police and asked for a well-being check. Neighbors had also started to worry.

"There were things that I noticed about the house," Christine Stegenga tells CBS 2's Mai Martinez.

Police aren't sure when the couple was killed but based on the decomposition, it was several days ago, possibly even weeks.

"We gathered approximately 13 or 14 newspapers in the driveway," Buncich said.

Coroner Merrilee Frey Both said both husband and wife had blunt-force trauma; the wife had been strangled, as well.

Cliff_Snow
Cliff Snow
Joyce_Snow
Joyce Snow

Over the weekend, a neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told the Post-Tribune that the deaths "a complete surprise, but people in the country don't talk much."

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