Prince George’s County police have arrested a man in the murder of Zoe Spears, a transgender woman who was killed on Eastern Avenue in Fairmount Heights, Md. on June 13, officials announced on Thursday.

Officers arrested Gerardo Thomas of Baltimore on Wednesday in Cecil County, Commander Brian Reilly of the Prince George’s Police Department said at a press conference about the arrest. In an interview at the police station, Thomas allegedly admitted that he was in the area and armed on the night of Spears’ murder, Reilly said. He has been charged with first degree murder and is being held without bond.

The investigation into Spears’ death began five weeks ago, with just a grainy black-and-white surveillance photo of a van captured near the site of the murder, Reilly said. With the help of local car dealership employees, investigators were able to confirm that the vehicle was a Dodge Caravan with a distinct silver paint job. Law enforcement across the D.C. area culled license plate reader information on Dodge Caravans with that color paint, and investigators were able to find the license plate number of a vehicle driving about half a mile away from the site of Spears’ murder about two hours before her death.

After further investigation, officers found out the Dodge was a rental car, and they traced it back to an Enterprise car rental in Baltimore, and eventually to Thomas, Reilly said. Thomas admitted to driving that vehicle in the area at the time of Spears’ death, per Reilly.

Spears was found lying on the street on the 600 block of Eastern Avenue on June 13, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead on the scene.

Spears was the second trans woman of color to be shot and killed in the area this year. Twenty-seven-year-old Ashanti Carmon was murdered nearby on the morning of March 30. Eastern Avenue, where both women were gunned down, is a gathering place for sex workers. Both Carmon and Spears had done sex work in the area, according to police.

Transgender activist Earline Budd told DCist in June that she believed the deaths of Carmon and Spears to be related. Spears told Budd that she had witnessed Carmon’s murder and feared for her life, Budd said.

“She said, ‘Please help me Ms. Budd, I don’t want to die,'” Budd said. “We strongly believe this was a coordinated effort…of killing her because she was a witness to Ashanti Carmon’s murder,” Budd says.

Prince George’s County police, however, say they do not currently know of any link between the two cases. They also do not currently have a motive for Spears’ murder, Reilly said.

The investigation into Carmon’s murder remains open.