The Associated Press

NEW FAIRFIELD, Conn. - A Kentucky man will be charged with killing a couple found bludgeoned to death in their home on Thanksgiving morning, state police said.

Alexander Gray, 20, of Louisville faces charges of capital felony, two counts of murder and larceny in the first degree, Trooper Roger Beaupre said.

Mr. Gray is being held at Westchester, N.Y., County Jail on $4 million bond as a fugitive from justice, Trooper Beaupre said.

On Thursday, New York state police found Mr. Gray behind the wheel of a 1998 Dodge Durango that belonged to the couple. Police said he crashed the vehicle into a guardrail on the highway. He will appear in a Bedford, N.Y., court on Thursday on a charge of felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

Connecticut state police filed an arrest warrant affidavit in Danbury Superior Court Saturday. They will serve the arrest warrant against Mr. Gray today and begin the process of extraditing him to Connecticut, Trooper Beaupre said.

Police have been examining forensic evidence at the scene where Ronald Ahrlich, 66, and Roberta Ahrlich, 61, were found bludgeoned to death. Relatives arriving for Thanksgiving found the couple.

Officers have also been conducting investigative interviews over the holiday weekend, Trooper Beaupre said.

He said investigators do not expect anyone else to be charged.

"This was just a random act of violence against the Ahrlich family," he said.

Louisville police told the News-Times of Danbury that Mr. Gray was charged in 2001 with trafficking marijuana within 1,000 yards of a school. He was also picked up four months later on a "mental inquest warrant," a warrant issued for someone considered a danger to himself or others, the newspaper reported.

"He's not someone who has come to our attention a good deal. These were two fairly routine matters," Louisville police spokeswoman Helene Kramer told the newspaper. "He doesn't fall into the category of someone notorious."

Mr. Gray, a doctor's son, reportedly lived in an affluent neighborhood in the Louisville suburb of Prospect, according to the New York Times.

Ronald Ahrlich, a tool and die maker, was a longtime volunteer firefighter and fire chief in New Fairfield. Roberta Ahrlich, 61, was a registered nurse. The couple had no children.

The slaying chilled the quiet rural town where violent crime is an anomaly.

According to Connecticut state police statistics, largely rural New Fairfield has 2.5 crimes per 1,000 residents, one of the lowest rates in Connecticut. The state average is 33 crimes per 1,000 residents.

"We're just horrified - everybody's locking their doors today," said Sandy Todd, a teacher, who lives a short walk from the Ahrlichs.

"If this was random and a stranger, it's just unheard of."