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North Carolina man wanted in connection with wife's death captured in Arizona

Keel had "many Wells Fargo receipts" and a large sum of money with him at the time of his arrest, the sheriff's office said.
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A North Carolina man who was being sought by police in connection with the death of his wife was captured Sunday in Arizona.

Rexford Lynn Keel Jr. was arrested outside of Tucson, Arizona, following a traffic stop and charged with first-degree murder, the Nash County Sheriff's Office said.

Keel, 57, had "many Wells Fargo receipts" and a large sum of money with him, the sheriff's office said. He was taken to the Pima County Jail in Tucson.

Image: Rexford Lynn Keel, Jr., was arrested on a fugitive warrant in Tuscon, Arizona.
Rexford Lynn Keel, Jr., was arrested on a fugitive warrant in Tuscon, Arizona.Pima County Sheriff's Department

A manhunt was underway earlier Sunday for Keel, a suspect in the death of his wife Diana Alejandra Keel, 38. Her body was found last week in a wooded area about 30 miles from their home. Her death is being treated as a homicide, officials said.

Keel was brought in for questioning Tuesday and to identify remains after a Department of Transportation worker found the body in Edgecombe County that afternoon, Sheriff Keith Stone said last week.

The mother of two was last seen by her husband last Friday, according to authorities.

She was reported missing by her daughter on March 9, after she learned her mother did not show up for her job as an emergency room nurse for several days.

In 2006, Keel's first wife, Elizabeth Edward Keel, died at her home in Nashville, about 50 miles east of Raleigh, from blunt trauma to the head after falling on concrete steps, the sheriff's department said. Her death was ruled accidental.