Arrest in US dentist love triangle hit

Kristopher Love has been charged with capital murder. Photo / AP

Dallas police have arrested a man accused of shooting and killing a well-known dentist in the parking garage of her apartment complex last month.

Now investigators are looking for the woman suspected of plotting the slaying and paying the alleged killer.

Authorities have charged Kristopher Love, 31, with capital murder in the death of Kendra Hatcher, Dallas police spokesman Max Geron said.

Hatcher was killed last month after she pulled into her apartment's parking garage and parked her car. Moments later, police said, she was approached by an individual who exited a second vehicle. Following what witnesses described as a gunshot, the individual got back in the car and drove away.

Police found the 35-year-old Hatcher dead beside her car a few minutes later.

Authorities said Love, who has a criminal record and is being held on US$2.5 million ($3.8 million) bond, had the suspected murder weapon in his possession at the time of his arrest. He also has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.

Investigators say they believe Brenda Delgado, 33, masterminded the slaying and hired Love. A capital murder arrest warrant has been issued for Delgado. She is also accused of hiring Crystal Cortes, a 23-year-old who has admitted being Love's getaway driver, for US$500.

Cortes faces a capital murder charge. Her lawyer said that his client thought Hatcher was going to be robbed, not killed.

Crystal Cortes was charged with charged with capital murder in the death of Kendra Hatcher. Photo / AP

According to the court documents cited by the Huffington Post, Delgado had "ended a two-year relationship" with Hatcher's boyfriend, dermatologist Ricardo Paniagua, months earlier. Delgado had previously posted of her love for Paniagua, 38. In April 2013, she wrote a Facebook birthday message "to the most amazing & smartest man I know".

Hatcher began posting about her relationship with Paniagua around June. She posted photos of their trip to San Francisco, and said the visit was amazing.

Hatcher's friends said she was excited about her new relationship and had not mentioned anything to them about problems with Delgado.

Geron urged Delgado to turn herself into police "as quickly as possible".

- Washington Post-Bloomberg