LOXLEY, Ala. — It was supposed to be a routine check. Loxley police make it a point to do a basic check on any homeless people they encounter.

So, when Officer Michael Landenwich came across a pair of drifters at the Firehouse Cafe, just North of Interstate 10, he did what he was trained to do — asked a few questions and prepared to run a background check.

“This is just part of our police procedure,” said Landenwich.

Randall Lee Stephens, 50, had other ideas. When confronted by Landenwich, he told Landenwich he knew why he was wanted.

Stephens told Landenwich that he knew about the homicides, said a Loxley Police Department press release.

He looked like all the other guys we check,” said Landenwich in a telephone interview. “It surprised me.”

Indeed. After checking with the Pecos, Texas police department, it turned out that Stephens was wanted for failing to register as a sex offender, and was wanted for questioning in a Pecos double homicide. Stephens is said to have later confessed to the crime.

The bodies of Richard Cherry, 51 and his wife, Alicia Cherry, 48, were found May 7 in the Pecos bar they had owned and operated for 15 years. Authorities say they had been stabbed. Their truck, a gray Ford F-350 was missing. The truck was recovered in New Mexico. Witnesses place Stephens as the last person to go into the bar.

This was a lot of attention for a rookie police officer. Landenwich, 23, was hired by the Loxley Police Department in January and finished his Police Academy training in April.