FORT WORTH - Former American Eagle Outfitters employees are being charged with murder after police they strangled to death their manager.
Texas prosecutors have charged Carter Cervantez, 25, and her boyfriend Clarence "David" Mallory, 19, with capital murder in the death of Ashlea Harris, 31.
Cervantez and Mallory were fired from American Eagle Outfitters at an Fort Worth, Texas mall back in August after Harris, an assistant manager, named them as suspects in a theft of about $18,000 from the store.
Police say Harris worked overnight Black Friday and arrived home around 3:15 a.m. on Nov. 28. Just a few hours later, her strangled and burned body was found after firefighters were called to a fire in her apartment.
A neighbor below Harris told police that he heard a thump, screaming and heavy breathing around 7:30 a.m. His carbon monoxide detector then went off, and water came through his ceiling from the sprinklers in Harris' apartment.
Arrest warrants state that Harris was also bound with tape and rubbing alcohol was found nearby. She had trauma to her face, head, neck and throat, leading police to believe she was strangled.
Documents say Cervantez and Mallory stole Harris' keys from her apartment, which contained the keys to the American Eagle store as well as the safe.
After learning about the previous theft case, police began to monitor the couple.
On the morning of Nov. 29, they followed the pair as they drove Cervantez's car to the Hulen Mall. Mallory dropped off Cervantez and parked outside an entrance as she went inside.
Police approached Mallory, who was wearing a black ski mask on his head. After telling police that he was waiting on his girlfriend to fill out paperwork inside a store where she worked, police arrested Mallory for not having a driver's license.
Officers later saw surveillance video from inside the mall showing Cervantez attempting to unlock the door at American Eagle Outfitters using the keys stolen from Harris' apartment. A manager at the store told police that the locks were changed after Harris' death.
A search of Cervantez's car, which was identified by Harris' neighbor as being at the scene of the murder, found a second ski mask in the trunk and a 9mm handgun. A guide to "lock picking" and a walkie talkie were also found inside.
A week after Harris' death, arrest warrants for capital murder and theft were issued. Cervantez was arrested in Fort Worth and Mallory was taken into custody in Amarillo.
Both are currently being held at the Mansfield Jail with bonds of $500,000 for murder and $100,000 for theft.
