CARTER

PROVIDENCE — Two Pawtucket men have been charged with murder and first-degree arson in connection with the slaying of two Providence women on June 14, the police said yesterday.

The police said the two men — Anthony J. Carter, 22, of 13 Busby St., and Raymond Clements, 23, of 38 Comstock St. — murdered Heather Jesus, 20, of 375 Plainfield St., Providence, and her 17-year-old cousin, Amanda Sousa, at Jesus’ Silver Lake apartment, which police have said the men then set ablaze in an apparent attempt to eliminate evidence.

Jesus was almost three months pregnant at the time of her death, relatives have said. Sousa was temporarily staying with Jesus, the police said.

Firefighters, responding to the fire, discovered the bodies of the two women on the living-room floor.

The state medical examiner later ruled their deaths a homicide.

The police have declined to comment on the relationship between the two suspects and the victims other than to say they were acquaintances.

Deputy Police Chief Paul J. Kennedy said neither of the men was the father of Jesus’ unborn baby.

“All I can tell you is, this was not a random act,” Kennedy said during an afternoon news conference yesterday. “They were known to one another. They were acquaintances.”

Kennedy said no one else was involved.

“We believe that the two people [involved in] the homicide are both in custody,” Kennedy said.

The police, however, remained tight-lipped on a possible motive for the killings.

“We do have a motive,” Kennedy said, “but that will come out as the proceedings progress.”

“These are extremely dangerous men,” Kennedy said.

Clements was released on probation in December 2006.

Carter was released from the ACI on June 1.

Police were looking for the two men after a lead from Patrolman Michael P. Comerford, who had noticed a vehicle that was “parked in close proximity” to Jesus’ building, Kennedy said.

With the vehicle’s information, Providence police detectives learned that the car, a 2007 silver Dodge Magnum with Rhode Island plates, had been rented by Clements in Warwick on June 8.

The car had been reported stolen by the rental agency.

A description for the vehicle was entered into NCIC, a national computerized database.

The police did not say how the rental car led them to Carter.

With the assistance of U.S. marshals, the police located a possible address for the two suspects in Lakeland (Polk County), Fla., a residence that Kennedy said belonged to a friend of one of Carter’s relatives.

At the same time, Providence detectives used a cell phone to reach Clements, who was out-of-state, Kennedy said.

In Florida, Polk County Sheriff’s deputies and Lakeland police learned that the rental car was involved in an attempted armed robbery of a person Thursday night in the parking lot of a supermarket in Lakeland.

The police said the car — which Florida officers ran through the NCIC, linking it to the double murder in Providence — was also involved in six other robberies over four days in Auburndale and Osceola County.

Lakeland police found the car parked at a Lakeland address and, along with sheriff deputies, kept the house under surveillance until Carter left some 12 hours later, said Carrie Rodgers, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.

Rodgers said lacking probable cause and a warrant to go to the house, the officers attempted to pull Carter over as he drove another vehicle. Carter briefly fled but was eventually apprehended.

Once in custody, Carter made incriminating statements in the Providence double murder, Kennedy said. He is being held in Florida pending extradition to Rhode Island, Rodgers said.

In addition to the Florida robbery charges, Carter was charged in Rhode Island with two counts of murder, one count of first-degree arson, and parole violation.

Clements, who turned himself into Providence police Friday, is being held at the ACI on two counts of murder, one count of first-degree arson, a probation-violation warrant, and a warrant issued by the Warwick police for obtaining a vehicle with intent to defraud.

Kennedy said the police also expect to charge the two with robbery in connection with as many as 10 robberies in the Providence area.

marmenta@projo.com