A 26-year-old man who police described as a transient has been arrested and charged with two murders that occurred in Santa Monica and Hollywood.

Roy Antonio Davis faces two counts of murder and one count of first-degree burglary with a person present. The defendant pleaded not guilty on March 12 and was ordered to return to court on March 19.

Lt. John Radtke, of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Bureau Homicide Unit, said Davis was known to stay on the streets in the Hollywood area. He was in custody on unrelated robbery charges when authorities recently linked him to the murders.

Radtke would not divulge how police connected him to the crimes because of pending court proceedings, but said there is evidence that Davis was the perpetrator. The charges could result in a death sentence or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Davis is accused of burglarizing the Santa Monica residence of 88-year-old John Hautz on Jan. 31 and killing him with a pick ax. Police found the elderly victim with multiple stab wounds inside his residence in the 2300 block of 34th Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The second victim, Kenneth Schmitt, 28, was found dead on Jan. 13 in the parking lot of the Florentine Gardens nightclub at 5951 block of Hollywood Blvd. Employees arrived in the late afternoon and saw the victim lying unconscious on the ground. An autopsy determined the victim had been stabbed to death. Schmitt was a transient known to frequent the area, Radtke said.