Arrest Made After Couple Found Slain on Houseboat in St. Pete

Police have arrested a suspect in the double homicide of an elderly man and his live-in girlfriend who were found dead Friday on a houseboat at a St. Petersburg marina, authorities said.

Raynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria, 30, was stopped while driving a rental car in North Carolina and taken into custody, St. Petersburg Police said. 

In additional to first-degree murder warrants in the deaths of the victims, identified as John Joseph Travlos, 75, and Germana Morin, 74, Figueroa-Sanabria also had an outstanding warrant for trafficking in cocaine. Officials said they believe robbery may have been a possible motive in the deaths.

According to police, Travlos and Morin lived together for about a year and a half in Travlos' houseboat/yacht, called "Relax Inn," which was moored at the Loggerhead Marina on 32nd Avenue South.

The couple was found dead Friday morning as a result of "upper body
trauma. Detectives have not yet released the exact cause of death.

A massage therapist who arrived at the boat around 11 a.m. Friday for a schedule appointment with the couple became suspicious when they did not respond to her knocks on the door, St. Petersburg Police spokesperson Mike Puetz said in a media release.

The therapist approached another man who had arrived to do some electrical work on the boat, and together they were able to enter the boat and found the victims dead inside.

A neighbor had spoken to the couple the evening before and told detectives that everything appeared to be fine at the time, Puetz said.

Police have not said what led them to Figueroa-Sanabria as a suspect in the case. Detectives relayed information to authorities in North Carolina, who were able to apprehend him as he was driving a rental car there.

Figueroa-Sanabria was in custody in Nash County, NC, where detectives were en route to interview him.

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