Sand Springs Police close to arrest in beating of 70-year-old man

Sand Springs police believe they're close to making an arrest in the case of a 70 year-old man who was found beaten and bound in his home last week.<br/><br/>News on 6 anchor Tami Marler has new developments

Wednesday, March 29th 2006, 5:33 pm

By: News On 6

Sand Springs police believe they're close to making an arrest in the case of a 70 year-old man who was found beaten and bound in his home last week.

News on 6 anchor Tami Marler has new developments in the case.

Assistant Police Chief Mike Carter says once Sand Springs detectives released a surveillance photo last week, they were flooded with calls from people who thought they recognized the man.

"This right here is our number one priority case," says Carter. "It goes beyond a single call. I mean we've had numerous people call and say that they know this is the individual, and when we've done some comparisons and some IDs, seems to panned out to be good information."

Investigators believe Robert Marquiess may know something about the brutal beating of 70 year-old Albert McManus who was found tied-up in the floor of his living room, several days after the attack.

"He's a suspect in the use of the credit card," Carter says, "but he's not a suspect at this point that we're ready to file charges on the home invasion of our victim."

McManus's sister told me whomever attacked her brother got away with a lot.

"They tore the phone up, tied him up. They took his keys and locked the door from the outside," she says. "They took his money card and all of his checks. They made him give his pin number so they did have his pin number."

Assistant Chief Carter says, "What we want is for Mr. Marquiess to come forward and talk to us. Because this is a situation where he may have gotten the card from some place"

And Sand Springs police say he used it, along with some other people. Surveillance photos show at least one additional suspect that police are trying to identify now.

Carter says, "The idea that someone goes into a disabled man's home and attacks him and then takes his savings from his account is savage, and is something we want to come to resolution on."

Sand Springs Police believe this man in the surveillance picture can help them solve the crime.

Family members say McManus could be released from the hospital in a few days.

They say he went so long without food, oxygen and water, they don't know if he'll ever fully recover.

If you can help police locate Marquiess, you can call them at 918-245-8777