Baytown murder suspect allegedly Googled 'Can I kill an illegal human?' before fiancé's death

BAYTOWN, Texas (KTRK) -- A Baytown man has been arrested months after his fiancé's murder.

Police say Ty Vaughn, 31, shot 27-year-old Luis Banos Norberto in the face on Jan. 14 and then tried to make it look like a suicide.

It happened inside their second-floor unit at the Crosby Green apartments on Crosby Cedar Bayou Road.

According to court documents, Vaughn told investigators he'd been arguing with Norberto before coming home to find him dead.

But after viewing surveillance video and interviewing neighbors, detectives soon pieced together a timeline.

At 4:05 a.m., when Vaughn claimed he wasn't home, he was seen walking up the stairs to his apartment. Two neighbors told police they heard a gunshot shortly thereafter.

At 4:27 a.m., he texted Norberto, who police say was already dead, "Babe? Babe why are you not texting back?!?!"

At 5:38 a.m., 93 minutes after the murder, Vaughn called 911.

"My spouse is dead. Help. My life is over," Vaughn told dispatchers.

Many neighbors say they only learned of the murder Saturday when Eyewitness News approached them.

"It happened right next door, and it's even more nerve-wracking that it could happen, and we had no idea it even happened," one neighbor said.

Police say they found Norberto's body lying on a bed with a rifle propped up against one of his arms and a torn picture of him and the suspect nearby.

He'd been shot with the rifle in one of his eyes.

Police say that during interviews, Vaughn repeatedly mentioned Norberto's immigration status unprompted.

When they searched his phone, they found he had Googled, "Can I kill an illegal human?"

Eyewitness News spoke to Vaughn on the phone on Feb. 4 before he'd been named a suspect in Norberto's death.

When asked if he'd spoken to Norberto the day of the murder, he replied, "I don't know. The police know all the details."

When Eyewitness News asked what police told him, he said, "I don't know. I've been kind of not great. I haven't really been going to police looking for answers."

When ABC13 offered our condolences, he replied, "I mean, it is what it is."

Vaughn's bond was set at $500,000. He's due in court Monday morning.