[A]uthorities arrested the suspect in the January slaying of former Vermont Frost Heaves forward Markus Austin on Thursday in Florida and are working on bringing him to Vermont to face charges.
Police say Jayveon Caballero, of Barre, is to be charged with second-degree murder.
Austin’s slaying in Montpelier followed what police described as an altercation involving multiple people outside a bar in Barre, during which Austin, 33, allegedly struck Caballero’s girlfriend.
The 29-year-old Caballero was found and arrested in Deltona, Florida, capping a manhunt led by U.S. Marshals, Vermont State Police, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department in Florida and the Florida Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Extradition proceedings are underway, according to police. Caballero’s bail has been set at $500,000.
Police in late March offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to his arrest.
Austin, the first player signed to the semi-professional Vermont Frost Heaves, was known to Caballero, police say.
Caballero allegedly shot Austin with a 9mm pistol around 4:30 a.m. Jan. 22 outside Austin’s apartment on Barre Street in Montpelier.
At the time, Caballero wasn’t allowed to own a firearm because he had at least one felony conviction. Police said soon after the killing that they didn’t know whether he owned the weapon.
In January police also arrested 36-year-old Reginald Jones as an alleged accessory. Police said Jones took Caballero to a bus station in White River Junction and bought him a ticket out of town.
Police believed at the time that Caballero fled the morning of Jan. 22 on a Greyhound bus that had multiple scheduled stops in Massachusetts and Connecticut en route to New York City.
In addition police arrested Desiree Cary, who lived with Caballero, on charges related to the sale of cocaine and heroin after she was stopped in a vehicle in Barre on the evening of Jan. 22.
Cary, 22, was already the subject of an ongoing investigation by the drug task force, police said. Officers have in the past purchased drugs from her in connection with that investigation, authorities said.
State police spokesman Scott Waterman said Thursday that he had no further information on Caballero’s arrest and couldn’t provide it if he did.
Waterman said an investigation continues into the question of how Caballero got to Florida.