Authorities arrested fugitive double-slaying suspect Timmy "T.J." Weber late Sunday at a mobile home owned by the father of his slain girlfriend, ending a 24-day search for the elusive seven-time felon.

The peaceful surrender of Weber, 28, concluded the most intensive local law enforcement manhunt in years and brought immediate relief to the surviving members of the family he is accused of terrorizing.

Weber is accused of killing his 38-year-old girlfriend, Kim Gautier, and her 15-year-old son, Anthony, and raping Gautier's 14-year-old daughter in their downtown house April 4. Authorities say he returned to the home to attack surviving son Chris Gautier on April 14 as the teen gathered items for his family members' funeral.

Las Vegas police arrested Weber about 7:30 p.m. after receiving a tip from a next-door neighbor. The neighbor became suspicious when she noticed black plastic garbage bags had been taped to a bedroom window inside a mobile home at 6605 Delphinion Ave., near Craig Road and Rainbow Boulevard.

Darcy Spaulding, 36, an unemployed waitress who had lived at that address until six months ago, called police shortly after 6 p.m.

"I just had a feeling. I just knew that things were not right," said Spaulding, who now lives next door in her mother's house.

Spaulding was celebrating her grandfather's birthday with about 20 other people when she became suspicious. The black garbage bags had not been there when she was cleaning up the back yard earlier in the day to prepare for the party.

Spaulding said the mobile home belongs to Kim Gautier's father, Jerry Breclaw, but the trailer had been vacant since she moved out.

Neighbors said they never saw Weber coming or going until he was led out of the house by police. But they were familiar with the case because of the local and national media coverage it has received. Weber had been featured on television's "America's Most Wanted."

Until Sunday, the last time they saw Weber was a few days before the slayings, when Gautier, Weber and Gautier's children toured the residence.

"T.J. (Weber) and Kim were going to move in there," said Spaulding's daughter Stephanie Halvorsen, 19, who also lives next door.

Since the slayings, neighbors said, police had driven by the mobile home frequently and searched it on several occasions.

Sunday night, Las Vegas police, in squad cars and a helicopter, surrounded the neighborhood. Homicide Lt. Tom Monahan said police alerted Weber that K-9 unit dogs would be sent inside unless he came out. Weber then revealed himself and surrendered without incident.

Chris Gautier, 17, and his sister had been under police watch for weeks because of concerns Weber might try to harm them. Weber's arrest meant freedom from fear for the first time in a month.

"We're pretty ecstatic out here; everyone's out beeping horns," said Bill Froman, a Smith Middle School teacher and friend of the Gautier family.

Froman and the children's father had been sheltering the two since the slaying.

Froman said the surviving daughter was with him when they heard Weber had been captured.

"We screamed and yelled. We couldn't believe it," he said.

Froman said the girl and Chris Gautier want Weber to face the death penalty.

"Our one hang-up is that he was captured alive. We wanted him to fight," Froman said.

He said Chris Gautier relishes the chance to testify against Weber, but he worries about the girl testifying in regard to the sexual assault.

Both children, who had been unable to attend school because of the threat Weber posed, now are able to move on with their lives, Froman said.

Froman was with Chris Gautier at the family home when Weber attacked them April 14. Weber struck Froman in the head with a baseball bat, fracturing his skull. Weber sustained a head injury in the brawl with Gautier and Froman and fled the scene, leaving a trail of blood.

That incident brought a massive law enforcement dragnet. Police officers, SWAT team members and K-9 units conducted a door-to-door search of neighborhoods bordered by Bonanza Road, Main Street, Washington Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

But Weber evaded capture again.

Monahan and other Homicide investigators questioned Weber at police offices on West Charleston Boulevard before transporting him to the Clark County Detention Center early this morning.

"We talked at great length about his whereabouts since he'd been fleeing," Monahan said. "Immediately after the crime, he fled Las Vegas, headed toward the Pacific Northwest, then came back down through Utah, and he was here on the 14th."

Weber told police he escaped the downtown dragnet that day by climbing into the area's flood control basins, Monahan said.

"He was able to follow that labyrinth until he exited near Palace Station. It was a five-hour process. He said it was almost like an episode of 'The Fugitive,' " Monahan said.

As the police investigation intensified, authorities responded to countless potential Weber sightings, some of which were phoned in by concerned citizens at the same time on opposite ends of the valley.

"The media kept his face and his profile in the public eye," Monahan said. "Without that, we would not have Timmy Weber in custody. It's a great relief.

"One murder doesn't take precedence over another, but because of the nature of the crime and the notoriety of this crime, I can say personally that this one kept me awake at night."

The Gautier family and friends were able to mourn their loss at a funeral April 21, under heavy police protection.

Weber had moved into Kim Gautier's home, at 700 N. First St., near Bonanza Road and Main Street, three weeks before the April 4 slayings. The pair had been dating off and on for three to four years, Gautier's daughter told police.

The 14-year-old girl said she was alone in the house with him the morning of April 4 when he locked the front door while she was watching television, a police report said.

He then grabbed her, took her to her bedroom and hog-tied her arms and feet with duct tape, leaving her there for about an hour, the report said.

He returned and raped her, then left again. She was left in the room with the television volume turned up for several hours until Chris Gautier and his friend gained entry to the house through a window and untied her, the report said.

After the kids summoned authorities, police entered the house about 4:30 p.m. and found the body of Anthony Gautier lying face down on a mattress with his arms duct-taped behind his back. Two dumbbell weights were on Anthony's back, and a black plastic bag covered his head, a police report said.

Las Vegas patrol officers then arrived at the scene to continue searching when they came across a locked bedroom door. After forcing entry, they found the body of Kim Gautier stuffed upside-down in a plastic storage container. A black plastic bag was over her head, the police report said.

Although Weber was cooperative with police Sunday night, Monahan said detectives still were trying to determine whether Weber had any assistance in evading capture. If people helped Weber, they could face charges of aiding and abetting, Monahan said.

Monahan said Weber was "shocked" by the media attention on him as he fled, adding that Weber was able to access the Internet on his way to the detention center today to read newspaper articles about himself.

Weber has been convicted of felonies five times in Nevada since 1992 and twice in California, according to court records. All of the convictions stem from property crimes, including burglaries of Las Vegas drugstores, restaurants and department stores.