NCIS helps arrest suspect accused of double murder in 29 Palms

Update: 3-31-17: Suspect arrested on accusations of murdering two women 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.

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.

March 24: Deputies called to double homicide in Twentynine Palms where women were shot multiple times

Deputies said they arrived at a home on the 7700 block of Bedouin Avenue just after midnight last Friday morning.

Inside the home, they found 62-year-old Renee Metcalf and 32-year-old Christy McKissic dead from multiple gunshot wounds. They said they also found a 10-year-old inside the home unharmed.

Deputies said they have not arrested any suspects related to the murder investigation, but have collected lots of evidence and interviewed numerous people.

They said one person they interviewed included a man, 42-year-old Terrence Hodges, who was taken into custody after deputies and California Highway Patrol officers stopped a vehicle he was driving just before 2:30 a.m. Friday morning on Twentynine Palms Highway near Midway Road.

Deputies said the vehicle was stolen during a home invasion robbery just before 10:00 p.m. Thursday night from a home in the 6400 block of Goleta Avenue in Yucca Valley.

Hodges was booked into the Morongo Basin Jail as the suspect responsible for the home invasion robbery.

Anyone with information related to the double murder is asked to call investigators at (909) 387-3589.