BALTIMORE, MD (WFSB) -
Watertown police said two people have been arrested in connection with a double murder that rocked the community earlier this month.
Claude Turner and Elizabeth Swardiski were arrested and are currently in jail in Baltimore, MD.
"They were taken into custody (Thursday night) in Baltimore," said Watertown Police Chief John Gavallas.
With the help of United States Marshals, police were able to nab the pair and they are currently being held on larceny charges involving the theft of one of the victims' cars.
Swardiski is also being charged with forgery.
"Information is unfolding rapidly," Gavallas said. "My detectives in Baltimore are continuing their investigation and attempting to learn as much more info as we can."
According to police, Watertown detectives are currently in Baltimore to question the pair about the killings.
Right now, police said, they don't face any charges in connection with the double murder, but said they are indeed suspects.
Police said Donna Bouffard and her son, Michael Perkins, were stabbed to death inside their Oakville home and may have been dead for a week before their bodies were discovered.
Watertown police said they received several reports of a horrible smell coming from inside, and when officers arrived that's when they found the bodies.
"It's a shock," said neighbor Mark Lewis.
An autopsy performed showed Bouffard and her son were both stabbed to death.
According to neighbors, Bouffard fell on hard times when her husband died, forcing them to rent out the basement garage to Turner and Swiderski Turner in January, and that's when they said the trouble began.
Watertown police said they were called to the home exactly 20 times since the start of the year.
"We would usually notice (the police)," Lewis said. "We would mark it on the calendar."
Channel 3 Eyewitness News found that the couple had lengthy rap sheets. Swiderski's includes multiple larceny charges while Turner's past is more violent, including threatening, larceny and robbery.
"Usually you can look at somebody and see if they're a decent person," Lewis said. "Neither of them you could read."
But neighbors said one thing was clear - everyone in the home had financial problems, and that could have led to the killings.
"The camper, the lawnmower, everything was sold," Lewis said. "You could tell somebody needed money quick."
Also, a car belonging to Bouffard was found in Norwich after the bodies were discovered, and police said the driver had no connection to the case.
Police said they believe the Turners sold the car to the driver.
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Claude Turner and Elizabeth Swardiski are currently in jail in Baltimore, MD
