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Williamsburg, VA—One suspect in last week’s robbery of Goodman & Sons Jewelers has been arrested, while a second suspect died in custody two days after the incident.

According to a report in the Virginia Gazette, police took Eric D. Roach of Philadelphia, PA, into custody after an intensive two-day manhunt following the robbery.

Roach, left, along with the second suspect, Basil Berry, also of Philadelphia, entered the jewelry store in Williamsburg’s Monticello Marketplace just before 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 26. They forced four employees and a repairman to the back of the store and bound their hands and feet with plastic zip ties, but one employee was able to hit the silent alarm before being tied up.

The armed robbers then lifted diamond jewelry, Rolex watches, and other merchandise that police estimate totals several hundred thousand dollars. The robbers fled in an SUV, but police gave chase. One suspect, believed to be Roach, leapt from the vehicle and disappeared into a wooded area, while Berry later crashed the SUV. Gunfire was exchanged between police and suspects.

The Virginia Gazette did not know at press time whether Berry died from gunshot wounds or from injuries sustained in the crash, but a later report in the Richmond Times Dispatch indicated gunshots to the head and chest caused the robber’s death.

A happier moment for Ned, Eric, and Stuart Goodman of Goodman's Jewelers, Williamsburg and Hampton, VA, earlier this year.

Meanwhile, police in Upper Merion Township, PA, are investigating whether the same two men also may have been part of a robbery at the Tourneau store in The Plaza at King of Prussia mall two weeks ago, during which three men stole approximately $500,000 worth of luxury watches. In that incident, one robber with a handgun ordered employees and customers to the floor while another smashed the showcases with a hammer and the three lifted the watches and fled. No employees were hurt, though one shopper suffered minor cuts from flying glass.

Tourneau’s King of Prussia store, located 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia, was one of a string of other jewelry-store robberies throughout the greater Philadelphia area, including southern New Jersey. Police are still investigating whether the Williamsburg pair had any connection to those.

Read theVirginia Gazette article here, another in the Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily, or see this video from WTVR CBS-6 of Richmond.

For information about the Tourneau robbery, read this article in the King of Prussia Courier, or see this version with video footage of the event.