By RODNEY HART
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
HANNIBAL, Mo. -- A public defender was appointed to defend the Hannibal man accused of stabbing two people to death Saturday, and the defendant said he understood the charges made against him during a court hearing this morning.
Manuel Cazares, 32, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the stabbing deaths of Patrick Epley and Amanda Thomas. He is being held in the Marion County Jail on $1 million bond. He appeared on video from the jail during the hearing in the Marion County Courthouse in Hannibal.
Judge John Jackson read the charges against Cazares, who said he understood them. Public Defender Todd Schulze represents Cazares, whose next court appearance is scheduled for March 20.
Assistant Prosecutor Robert Rapp asked for bond to be raised from $1 million to $2.5 million, but Jackson denied the motion.
The bodies of Epley and Thomas were found by Hannibal police Saturday morning in an apartment rented by Thomas on Starlight Ridge, near Huckleberry Park. Officers said both had been stabbed, probably with a regular kitchen knife.
Cazares, a Mexico native who has lived in Hannibal illegally for at least three years and is the father of a child with Thomas, turned himself in to police Saturday morning, prompting the apartment search.
Autopsies on Epley and Thomas were conducted Monday in Columbia, but the results probably won't come back for at least six weeks, Marion County Coroner Peggy Porter said. Authorities have not said when the attack occurred, nor have they offered a motive.
Court records show Cazares had been served with three orders of protection by Thomas in the past two years, but two were dropped. The most recent, filed in December, was still active, authorities said. He also had several traffic citations and a February 2008 conviction for damage to property.
-- rhart@whig.com/221-3370
