Man released after authorities arrest new suspect in death of 79-year-old Bedford woman

A man was released from prison after authorities arrested a new suspect in connection with the death of a 79-year-old woman in Bedford.

Aaron Pouchie, 26, was taken into custody on June 11 in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Bedford police said in a news release Thursday. Pouchie, of Montgomery, Alabama, is charged with murder in the death of Christine Barsanti, according to police. He did not appear in Tarrant County jail records Friday morning and it was unclear if he had an attorney.

Department officials confirmed that the 39-year-old Euless man who was originally taken into custody in the case on June 8 has been released.

On June 7, at approximately 4:15 p.m., officers were dispatched to a home in the 2400 block of Meadow View Lane, near Bedford Road and Murphy Drive, for a 911 call about an unconscious person.

Inside, officers found Barsanti, who, according to police, had apparently been “fatally struck by an unknown object” the previous day.

According to police, surveillance footage from Barsanti’s home shows a man ringing her doorbell and asking if he could use her phone. When she refused, the man forced his way in, according to police.

The footage does not show what happened inside, police said, but shows the man leaving the house “a few minutes” later.

Officers “noticed similarities” between the first man they arrested and the man in the surveillance camera footage, police said at the time of his arrest.

However, during their investigation, detectives were able to obtain a clearer picture of the suspect’s vehicle, which led them to Pouchie.

According to police, investigators found Pouchie and the vehicle on June 10 with assistance from local law enforcement in Jefferson Parish.

Police said the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office is working to extradite Pouchie to Texas, where he will be booked into the Tarrant County Jail.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.