SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A homeless trio used a handgun stolen from an unlocked car to rob and kill a yoga teacher and a backpacker in California, authorities said Friday.
The handgun was reported stolen on Oct. 1 from the Fisherman's Wharf neighborhood in San Francisco, police Lt. Toney Chaplin said.
The body of 23-year-old Audrey Carey was found two days later in Golden Gate Park. The Canadian backpacker had been shot in the head.
The body of 67-year-old yoga instructor Steve Carter was found Monday near a popular hiking trail in Marin County 20 miles north of San Francisco.
The three young people were arrested in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday. Police say the gun was recovered during the arrest.
The suspects have waived extradition proceedings and will be returned from Portland to the San Francisco Bay Area to face charges in the shooting deaths.
Carey had left her native Quebec and was on a solo backpacking trip when she was killed after the first day of a music festival.
Investigators in San Francisco and Marin County said 23-year-old Morrison Haze Lampley, 24-year-old Sean Michael Angold, and 18-year-old Lila Scott Alligood will be transferred sometime next week to California.
They were arrested after investigators tracked them using the GPS in a car that was stolen from Carter when he was killed, authorities said.
San Francisco police said in a statement investigators saw similarities in the two shootings, including the locations in wooded areas. So city police traveled to Portland to investigate further after the suspects were arrested.
San Francisco police Sgt. Michael Andraychak said the suspects had property of Carey when they were taken into custody.
"The three suspects will be charged with the robbery and murder of Audrey Carey," he said.
Marin County sheriff's Lt. Doug Pittman declined to discuss the type of gun recovered and any further details, including a possible motive for the killing of Carter near Fairfax, California.
"It's still very early in our investigation," he said.
Authorities have described the suspects as drifters and said none of them has a known address.
A hiker found Carter's body in the evening, and he was still holding the leash of his wounded dog. The Doberman pinscher was turned over to the Marin County Humane Society and is expected to recover.
Pittman said investigators were also aided by surveillance footage from a gas station in Point Reyes that showed the suspects with the stolen car about a half-hour after the slaying.
Authorities have said it did not appear the suspects knew Carter. Pittman has said it was unclear if Carter might have been targeted for his car or other belongings.
Followers credited Carter with improving their romantic relationships by teaching tantra, a philosophy of meditation, yoga and sexuality famously embraced by rock star Sting.