Slain man’s ex-girlfriend arrested in unrelated case

SODUS, N.Y. — The exgirlfriend of a victim in an upstate New York double homicide is in custody on an unrelated case, authorities said Tuesday.

Police launched an investigation after the Oct. 22 shooting deaths of Joshua Niles and Amber Washburn in Sodus, N.Y., but have not made any arrests.

Meanwhile, Charlene Childers of Sunray, Texas, who had two children with Niles, was being held without bail in New York’s Wayne County Jail. She had been sought in Texas on an unrelated warrant accusing her of injuring a child.

Childers’ husband, Timothy Dean, a former police chief in Sunray and nearby Dumas, was jailed in Moore County, Texas, in connection with a May child injury case, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Police in New York and Texas haven’t said if Childers or Dean are connected to the N.Y. slayings. Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts had no comment.

Niles, 28, and Washburn, 24, were killed outside their home on Lake Ontario.

A neighbor told local news outlets that he saw someone shoot Niles in the couple’s driveway and then shoot Washburn as she sat in her parked car. The couple’s 4-year-old son, who was in the car, wasn’t injured.

Friends and relatives said Niles and Washburn were also raising a son, 7, and a daughter, 9, who Niles had with Childers.