NCIS helps arrest suspect accused of double murder in 29 Palms
Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 22-year-old man at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms Thursday on suspicion of a double murder that occurred on Friday, March 24.
Authorities said Rafael Ari Aikens is accused of killing 32-year-old Christy McKissic and 62-year-old Renee Metcalf, both from Twentynine Palms. The women were shot to death inside their home in the 7700 block of Bedouin Avenue.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived to the home just after midnight that Friday. Inside the home, they found Renee Metcalf and Christy McKissic dead from multiple gunshot wounds. They said they also found a 10-year-old inside the home unharmed.
Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Deputies were working to identify the suspect for the past week and identified Aikens as a person of interest, according to the sheriff’s release.
Investigators arrested Aikens on Thursday at 6:50 p.m. at his assigned housing on the M.C.A.G.C.C. with the assistance of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). After speaking to Aikens and serving several search warrants, he was booked into the Morongo Basin Jail for the murders of McKissic and Metcalf, deputies said in the release.
The case is now in the hands of the District Attorney’s Office and more information is expected to be released in the near future. KESQ and CBS Local 2 will deliver updates as the case moves forward.
