The Chapel Hill Police Department announced Thursday it has made an arrest and charged a suspect in an April homicide.

31-year-old Chapel Hill resident Gabriel Cortez Peele has been charged with first-degree murder.

The arrest comes after the body of Derek Tyrone Mack, 34, of Raleigh was found inside a burning vehicle on Dickens Court in Chapel Hill on April 13. By the time investigators identified Peele as their suspect, he was already being held in the Wake County Detention Center on unrelated charges. Now, he faces five charges in the murder of Mack: first degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of firearm by a felon, armed robbery and conspiracy improper disposal of a body.

Though Peele is in custody, the CHPD said the investigation remains active. Anyone with information on the case should call 911, the Chapel Hill Police Department at 919-968-2760 or leave an anonymous tip at Chapel Hill-Carrboro-UNC Crimestoppers at 919-942-7515.

 

This is a developing story.

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