Father and his two sons, ages 5 and 7, found dead around Christmas. Police say they just arrested the killer.

An Illinois man is accused of fatally shooting a father and his two young sons shortly before Christmas, police said.

On Jan. 5, Boone County officials announced the arrest of Alize Q. Smith, 24, in connection to the slayings of Andrew Hintt, 31, and his sons, Benjamin, 7, and 5-year-old Sebastian, the Rockford Register Star reported.

On Dec. 19., the mother of the two boys was unable to reach Hintt. Later that evening, Hintt’s landlord phone 911 and officers found the father and his two boys shot dead in their Belvidere home.

Smith was named a person of interest in the case shortly after the triple murder. Police alleged Smith had been with the victims in the morning on the day they were killed.

He was being held without bond in the Boone County jail on three counts of first-degree murder. Under Illinois law, Smith faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of two or more of the killings, according to the Boone County state’s attorney.

Smith was paroled in June after serving half of his five-year sentence for aggravated robbery, the Rockford Register Star reported.

Police have not disclosed a possible motive for the murders.

“These boys were energetic, loving and they brought a smile to those around them,” a GoFundMe set up for Benjamin and Sebastian reads. “Their passing has left their friends and families with a void that will never heal."

Hintt's aunt, Theresa Eileen, told the Rockford Register Star that her nephew, who had five children, was relocating to California with his fiancée when he was murdered. The fiancée and the couple's three youngest children were out west at the time of the murders.

“They were just trying to start a new life, somewhere beautiful,” Eileen said. “They both loved it out there. They had been out there for about a month looking for a place to live.”