Zachary Marco Murder: Two Suspects Held on $1 Million Bail. Cops Fear for Third Suspect's Safety

Louis Harper, the alleged trigger man in the Zachary Marco murder.

​Unless the two men police believe murdered 21-year-old Arizona State University student Zachary Marco can come up with a million bucks apiece they're not goin' anywhere for a while.

Bail was set at $1 million each for Louis Eugene Harper and 17-year-old Marion Patterson III yesterday, and the Tempe Police Department confirms to New Times that Patterson will be tried as an adult.

A third suspect was arrested in connection with the murder, however, police are a bit more tight-lipped on his current situation.


That suspect wasn't mentioned at all at the highly publicized press conference the TPD held on Tuesday. However, in court documents obtained by New Times, he is said to have driven Harper and Patterson to the scene of the murder and watched Harper pull the trigger with Patterson at his side.

Tempe police tell New Times they aren't releasing information on that suspect as they are "concerned for the safety of that individual."

Harper and Patterson are both suspected gang members, so, despite the TPD's silence on the third suspect, we have a pretty good idea why they're concerned for his safety.

The Tempe Police Department has come under fire recently for several unsolved murders in the city this year -- including Marco's. But Marco's father, Dan Marco, applauds how the department handled his son's case.

Cops didn't have a whole lot to go on -- witnesses were limited and there wasn't much physical evidence left at the scene.

But then someone found a computer bag Marco was carrying at the time of the murder, and the suspects' fingerprints were found on some of the contents of the bag.

Police linked the prints from the bag to prints taken from the suspects following prior arrests. They served search warrants and found that Harper and Patterson had text messaged each other about committing armed robbery around the time of Marco's murder.

Now, thanks to the third suspect, it seems police have an eye witness, too.

Prior to the arrests, Dan Marco offered suspect who didn't pull the trigger a deal. A defense attorney, he publicly said he would make sure the non-trigger-man would get the best defense possible if he turned in the shooter. That deal is now "off the table" and both suspects have been assigned public defenders.