CONOVER (AP) ó Investigators have pursued more than 100 leads, many after a television show detailed the search for a suspect in the slaying of a woman and her three children in their North Carolina home, authorities said Monday.
Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman said deputies will hold a press conference Monday afternoon to discuss the leads and update the public on the status of the investigation.
“We’re looking at several different individuals and options,” Huffman said.
Authorities have said that a broadcast of “America’s Most Wanted” on Saturday night triggered a number of tips from people who recognized a sketch of the suspect or said they knew someone who knows the suspect.
The case started Thursday when a teenage girl called 911 to report that a man was stabbing and beating her friend. When authorities arrived, they found Lisa Saephan and her three children ó 20-year-old Melanie, 18-year-old Pauline and 3-year-old Cody ó dead inside their home near Conover, a town about 40 miles northwest of Charlotte, .
Authorities say Brian Tzeo, Saephan’s husband and the children’s father, had left for work shortly before his family was killed.
Huffman declined to say if there were any promising leads, saying that investigators planned to gather their information Monday.
“This has been a 24-hour deal since Thursday morning, so we’ve got some guys that are sort of out of it right now,” Huffman said. “We’re going to pull all of our information together, then we’re going to give them a couple hours of downtime.”