KESQ.com News Services

PERRIS - An Inland Empire man suspected of killing his wife and stepdaughter was arrested by a SWAT team in a motel next to Interstate 10 in New Mexico Sunday.

Michael Barbar, 52, of Perris, was safely arrested by Deming Police Department officers, according to Riverside County Sheriff's Dep. Craig Roberts.

Homicide detectives were heading to Deming today to speak with Barbar, Roberts said.

"We were contacted by Riverside authorities late Saturday that there was a possibility that the suspect could be staying in a Deming motel," said police chief Michael Carillo in Deming, a small town just east of the Arizona line some 650 road miles from Riverside.

Police there evacuated adjoining rooms at the La Quinta Inn and Suites.

As photographs and arrest warrants were sent electronically to Deming, the city sent its SWAT team to Barbar's room. At 4:30 a.m. today Mountain time, police called Barbar in his room and he surrendered without incident, according to Carillo, who spoke to reporters for the Deming Headlight newspaper.

Barbar was nowhere to be found Saturday morning, when his wife and the 6- year-old girl were found dead in their home in the 2800 block of Banner Place, Riverside County sheriff's deputies said.

Maysam Barbar and Tamara Barbar were found dead, but deputies did not disclose the apparent causes of death or how they were alerted to the crime. A 10-year-old girl was found unharmed in the house, deputies said.

Neighbors said the couple was divorcing.

The killings were "a big time shock," neighbor Ray Reyes told ABC7. "He seemed like a family guy ... I think the divorce just ended up getting to him and maybe it just pushed him over the edge."