Texas authorities are looking for a suspicious man wearing a Michael Myers mask. On Oct. 31, 2024, 38-year-old Eric Pait was shot in the garage of his home located on Hawks Nest Drive in Harris County, Texas. The incident happened at 11:15pm, and some neighbors, as well as the victim’s daughter, called authorities after hearing several gunshots.
Deputies arrived at the home and found Pait with multiple gunshot wounds. He was unresponsive and was declared dead at the scene. He had three children, two of which were inside the house when their father was shot, while the third was with a relative. The two children were found unharmed.
Witnesses who were interviewed said they saw the suspected shooter around the area wearing a Michael Myers mask from the movie Halloween. Since the face was hidden, it was difficult to determine the person’s identity based on the description, plus it was Halloween night and there may have been several others wearing that same kind of mask. Witnesses said the suspect in the mask simply walked up to Pait while he was in the garage and began shooting.
Sgt. Michael Ritchie, who is a detective working on the case, said that they are in the early stages of investigation and are not 100 percent certain the person in the mask committed the crime, but they are looking for him nonetheless. “Again, we’re reviewing video, processing the scene, interviewing witnesses to gather as much evidence as we can,” Ritchie stated.
The victim’s estranged wife was murdered a few weeks prior
During the investigation, detectives learned that Pait’s estranged wife, 37-year-old Carman Peterson, was also shot and killed in her apartment in August. She filed for divorce in March and moved out of the family home where Pait was killed. According to Peterson’s sister, Kimberly White, she visited the apartment and found her sister lying dead in her bed. “It was heartbreaking and devastating. I never thought I would walk in on my sister murdered… with that many bullet holes,” she said. Investigators said she was killed while asleep.
Peterson’s case remains unsolved, but her family believes that Pait or someone close to her was involved in her death. Peterson had five gunshot wounds, which makes her family believe that it was personal. In addition, no items were missing from her apartment, which rules out robbery as a motive. “It is somebody that had the motive to kill her because they hated her so much,” another sister, Martha Sttarghill, said. Pait was investigated as a person of interest in his estranged wife’s death but was not arrested nor named as a suspect.
One of Pait’s neighbors, Monica Melgar, said incidents like that don’t happen in their neighborhood and it was terrifying to think that Pait’s murder was a random act. “I’d like to think that someone’s not just randomly going out and killing anyone that’s outside — but it still makes you want to stay inside a little bit,” she said. Authorities are now looking into whether the murders of Pait and Peterson are somehow connected, or if Pait’s shooting death was random. His mother is taking care of her three grandchildren and is hoping that justice will be served for her son and daughter-in-law.
Published: Nov 2, 2024 08:30 am