Suspect Thomas Roberts implicates others in Port St. Lucie double murder

PORT ST. LUCIE — Thomas Roberts, who was arrested Tuesday in connection with the weekend deaths of a man and his common-law wife, told police he went in the couple's home with three others to steal the woman's purse because he knew "that was where she kept her drugs," according to an arrest affidavit obtained Wednesday.

Roberts, 27, told Port St. Lucie police he has a "prescription drug problem and that he injected OxyContin," Roberts' arrest affidavit states. OxyContin is a powerful painkiller.

Roberts said they went in the home of Frank Houck, 51, and his 58-year-old common-law wife, Irene Reiss, "to steal money, as well."

Roberts said one person — a woman — stayed in the vehicle, while Roberts and a man and a woman went inside through a rear sliding door.

"(The woman) was used to carry the purse out of the home to avoid suspicion," the affidavit states.

Roberts named one of the people he went to the home with as the person who shot Houck and Reiss, who were discovered dead about 3 p.m. Sunday in their home in the 300 block of Northeast Solida Circle. Roberts' listed address is just two homes away.

Roberts was arrested at 12:47 a.m. Tuesday on two counts of first-degree felony murder and a single count of home invasion robbery with a firearm in connection with the incidents.

He's being held without bond.