By David Perlmutt, Meghan Cooke and Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
macooke@charlotteobserver.com

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested three men in connection with a family of three found dead in their south Charlotte apartment.

Lorenzo Tyrone White, 27, Joseph Louis Amous, 25, and Linny Marquise Barcliff, 20, were all apprehended by police on Wednesday, a day after the killings.

They are accused of killing Lorenzo and Cheryl Graves and their four-year-old child, Oznola Graves.

The police department's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team descended on the Quail Run apartment complex Tuesday morning. At the apartments, a sprawling complex off South Boulevard near Arrowood Road, officers could be seen running through the parking lot. At least one officer had a police search dog on a leash.

White and Amous were in custody by about 11 a.m., but police believe Barcliff may have eluded searchers by moving between apartments through a latched door that leads to an attic in the apartment where the killings happened.

The killings were discovered Tuesday after a relative called police and asked them to check on the family.

When police arrived at apartment 22 on Oak Meadow Court, the door was locked. The apartment manager opened the door. Inside, officers discovered the family dead.

Police still weren't releasing their causes of death this morning.

Officers continued to investigate well into the evening. Several police vehicles could be seen in the complex's parking lot, and investigators could be seen going in and out of the apartment's red door.

People returning home from work Tuesday were greeted by the sight of police crime scene tape and television news vans, but they declined to comment when approached by a reporter.

Police encourage anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
***
Observer staff researcher Maria David contributed.
 

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