Daniel Tavares Jr. is no longer in the Pierce County Jail.

Lights & Sirens has been keeping an eye on Tavares since he pleaded guilty last Friday and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release for the deaths of Brian and Beverly Mauck.

Tavares left the convenes of the Pierce County Jail at 10 a.m. Thursday.

He’s been taken into Department of Corrections custody.

According to DOC’s web site, Tavares is at the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton.

It’s often the place where prisoners go to be evaluated before

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That’s the focus of an online poll The News Tribune is conducting.

The question we are posing is this: Was prosecutor Gerald Horne right to agree to a plea bargain with Tavares that allows him to escape the death penalty?

Tavares is Daniel Tavares Jr., who is scheduled to plead guilty today to killing Brian and Beverly Mauck in their Graham home Nov. 17.

Click here to vote and comment.

The poll has been up for 24 hours or so. As of 8:35 a.m., 46 voters agree with Horne’s decision and 32 people disagree.

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The Pierce County Prosecutor will be speaking with the media Wednesday regarding the Daniel Tavares Jr. double murder case.

Tavares (left) has been charged with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder. He’s suspected of fatally shooting his neighbors – Brian, 30, and Beverly Mauck, 28, in their Graham-area home in Nov. 17. The shooting allegedly was over a $50 debt.

The press conference is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. at the County-City Building.

Horne will be meeting beforehand with family members of Brian and Beverly.

The Pierce

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I’ll be down at the courthouse this morning for a pretrial hearing for Daniel T. Tavares Jr., accused of fatally shooting a young Graham couple in their house in November.

During this hearing, Tavares’ attorney will argue that he should be allowed access to the phone while in Pierce County Jail.

Tavares is under a temporary court order that only allows him to call his attorney. The order was agreed upon last month after deputy prosecutor Jerry Costello requested Tavares’ access be restricted after learning Tavares had tried to

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The Boston Herald has a story this morning about how the Romney administration missed an opportunity to keep Daniel T. Tavares Jr. behind bars.

The Department of Corrections could have stripped him of his “good time,” which would have kept him in prison for nearly another year.

He got out in July. Tavares has been accused of killing Graham couple, Brian and Beverly Mauck, in their home on Nov. 17.

There have been stories recently claiming that Daniel T. Tavares Jr. (accused of killing a young Graham couple last month) is a suspect in a string of unsolved highway slayings from the 1980s in Massachusetts.

The Boston Herald had a story today that says not so much.

A law enforcement officer told the Herald that they are “taking a look” at Tavares in connection with the serial killings but “anticipate ruling him out as the notorious killer,” the story states.

I’ve gotten a few more details today from the Massachusetts State Police as to what they knew about Daniel Tavares Jr., who they notified and when.

Those were questions we were asking yesterday for a story in today’s paper. I heard back from MSP this morning with a few clarifying details.

The answers come from Lt. Barry O’Brien, who’s in their public affairs department.

Question: Why did the Massachusetts State Police start looking for Tavares?

Answer: Because he had warrants out for his arrest. “We were aware of his background and wanted to arrest him on the warrants,” O’Brien said.

The search started locally, then expanded.

MSP had three different units looking for Tavares. The executive protection unit was keeping tabs on him because of his previous threats to former Gov. Mitt Romney. The violent fugitive apprehension team was working with their state Department of Corrections counterparts in tracking Tavares after the warrants were issued. And finally, MSP’s intelligence center was looking for him after being notified by the DOC folks.

Q. How did you determine he had taken a flight to Seattle in July?

A. “In the proces of looking locally, we received information that he had taken a flight to Seattle,” O’Brien said. He declined to be more specific.

Q. Why did you enter Tavares’ information into NCIC in August?

A. For officer safety reasons because of the warrants and Tavares’ violent background.

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The Boston Globe has a story in today’s editions about Daniel Tavares Jr.

They questioned the local district attorney’s office about why they didn’t change Tavares’ warrant after they knew he had fled the state.