Fugitive Couple Arrested at Mexico-Texas Border

Thursday, February 28th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(OKLAHOMA CITY) - A couple wanted in the shotgun killing of an advertising executive and the abduction of his two children were arrested Thursday while crossing the border into the United States, the FBI said.

Brenda Andrew, wife of the slain man, and her boyfriend, James Pavatt, were in the custody of the U.S. Customs Service after their arrest in McAllen, Texas, said FBI spokesman Gary Johnson.

They had been at large since shortly after Rob Andrew, 39, was killed in November.

The Andrew children, Tricity, 10, and Parker Andrew, 7, were taken into protective custody and are in good condition, Johnson said.

The arrests and the recovery of the children heartened workers at the advertising agency where Rob Andrew had worked.

``Oh my God. I can't even talk. We are just thrilled beyond belief,'' said Laura Hinson, a spokeswoman for Jordan Associates. ``We are just thrilled beyond belief.''

The couple were arrested as they attempted to cross the border in two vehicles, Johnson said. They will be brought before a federal magistrate.

Brenda Andrew and Pavatt, 48, an insurance agent, are charged with first-degree murder.

Rob Andrew died of two .16-gauge shotgun blasts.

Before his death, Rob Andrew filed two police reports detailing his suspicions that his wife and Pavatt were conspiring to kill him for $800,000 in life insurance benefits. He told police he believed they might be having an affair. Nobody ever collected on the insurance money.

Brenda Andrew and her children did not show up for his funeral. By the time detectives had enough evidence to charge her with his murder, Brenda Andrew and Pavatt had left town.

Rob Andrew had told police that someone had cut the brake lines on his car, then tried to lure him onto the highway with a phony telephone call telling him his wife had been hurt in a wreck, he told police.

Brenda Andrew was a Girl Scout leader and homeroom mom whom family members call incapable of violent crime. They said they feared she has been abducted.

After the slaying, Brenda Andrew, 37, had told police two masked robbers shot her and her husband, leaving her with a superficial gunshot wound to her arm.

After the slaying, police searched Pavatt's apartment and seized a name-change document, a black book containing a list of weapons and ammunition, and two .22-caliber bullets _ not the type used to shoot Rob Andrew.

Police were told Brenda Andrew and Pavatt had been asked to stop teaching Sunday school at North Pointe Baptist Church as rumors circulated that they were having an affair. Pavatt and Rob Andrew were deacons at the church.