Orlando authorities have tweeted that Markeith Loyd is in custody after a manhunt that lasted for days.
Loyd was wanted after he allegedly shot and killed his pregnant ex-girlfriend and a week after authorities said he killed an Orlando police officer.
Orlando police Chief John Mina said Tuesday that investigators believe Loyd may have changed his appearance. Police released a digitally altered photo of how Loyd would look without hair and provided new details about his physical appearance.
Authorities had been searching for Loyd, 41, since early December, when he was accused of shooting and killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon.
Orlando police said Loyd shot and killed Master Sgt. Debra Clayton Jan. 9 in the parking lot of the Walmart on Princeton Street.
Police said Loyd was likely wearing a bulletproof vest when he fatally shot Clayton.
Orlando police searched for Loyd at an abandoned building at Rosemont Country Club, near Lake Orlando on Sunday, but said they did not find anything.
Since Clayton was killed, police have arrested a former supervisor at the fried-chicken restaurant where Loyd worked, an ex-girlfriend and his niece on charges of helping him evade capture in the weeks after Loyd’s ex-girlfriend was fatally shot. Orlando police Chief John Mina said they hadn’t been cooperative in locating him.
The searches have been lower-profile compared to Monday’s door-to-door search of an Orlando apartment complex, and searchers have cast a broader net in Central Florida, Mina said.
The crime-tip service Crimeline offered a $100,000 reward for a tips that would lead to his arrest.
After Clayton was shot, many of her colleagues immediately joined the pursuit. Among them was sheriff’s Deputy First Class Norman Lewis, who died when he was thrown from his motorcycle in an accident.
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