DALLAS, TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Jury selection begins on Tuesday in Dallas for the man accused of killing a couple in front of their home more than one year ago. Abey Girma has now been arraigned and will soon be on trial for capital murder.
It was August of last year when police in Dallas found the couple — 40-year-old Yared Lemma and 31-year-old wife Yenni Desta — shot to death on the porch of their Lower Greenville home. The couple, investigators said, had just closed their Ethiopian restaurant, Desta. When they pulled up to their home, they were confronted by Girma.
Authorities said that Girma was a customer at the restaurant. According to a police report, Girma may have shot the couple because he felt as though they had disrespected him at some point.
A man who previously worked with Girma told law enforcement officials that the suspect held him at gunpoint and forced him to drive to Kansas. Girma allegedly told the former co-worker that he had just killed two people. Authorities later arrested Girma in Colorado.
The murdered couple left behind a son who was just 18 months old when his parents died.
If convicted, Girma could face life in prison without parole.