Man arrested, considered person of interest in 3 slayings

BELVIDERE, Ill. (AP) — A 24-year-old man arrested for a parole violation was identi- fied Wednesday as a person of interest in the weekend slay- ings of a man and two young sons in northern Illinois.

The Huntley man had spent part of Sunday with Andrew Hintt, 31, and the boys, Benjamin, 7, and Sebastian, 5, the Belvidere police depart- ment said.

The man was interviewed by police and was being held at the Boone County jail. Separately, police seized evidence from a house in Huntley.

The bodies of Hintt and the boys were found at Hintt’s Belvidere home Sunday night. Belvidere is about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north- west of Chicago.

More than 50 people gath- ered outside the home Tues- day night to pray.

“I can’t tell you it’s not go- ing to hurt. It’s going to hurt for a while,” the Rev. David Smith of First Assembly of God Church told the fam- ily. “But look around and re- member: In the moment that it hurt the most, these people came out here to be beside you.”

Hintt’s aunt, Theresa Ei- leen, said he operated his own meat truck.

“He spoiled the heck out of his kids,” Eileen told the Rockford Register Star. “He would take them everywhere. He brought the boys their own (electric) dirt bikes. He taught them how to ride.”

Hintt and his fiancee were the parents of five children, though Benjamin and Sebas- tian lived with other relatives in the area. Eileen said Hintt regularly saw them.