A Peabody man was returned in police custody to Massachusetts Monday evening to face charges in two homicides in Peabody and a carjacking in Middleton, according to Carrie Kimball Monahan, a spokeswoman for the Essex district attorney’s office.

Wes Doughty, 39, was to be held in Middleton Jail and House of Correction overnight until his Tuesday arraignment in Peabody District Court on two counts of first-degree murder, said Monahan.

Doughty had a court appearance earlier Monday in South Carolina, where he had been arrested while panhandling.

Massachusetts authorities were seeking him in connection with the killings of 39-year-old Jennifer O’Connor and 37-year-old Mark Greenlaw, who were found in their Peabody home Feb. 18. Doughty agreed to return to Massachusetts.

Doughty is the second suspect arrested in the case.

The first suspect, 45-year-old Michael Hebb, was arrested on Feb. 20. He was arraigned in Peabody District Court the next day, and not-guilty pleas were entered on his behalf. He was held without bail.

Kimball Monahan, a spokeswoman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, has said the crime scene was so “messy’’ that investigators needed X-ray equipment to determine the number of bodies in the home.

Doughty was last seen in Massachusetts on Wednesday night, when he allegedly abducted 64-year-old Ken Metz at knifepoint in Middleton.

Metz said Doughty tied him up with a seat belt in Metz’s 2006 Honda Accord and drove him to a liquor store, where Metz escaped.

On Friday afternoon, investigators from the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s office found Doughty in Boiling Springs, S.C. and arrested him on soliciting charges.

They ran his name through a national crime database and discovered he was wanted for the murders and carjacking.

Doughty appeared Monday at the Spartanburg County Detention Center on a fugitive-from-justice charge, Kimball Monahan said.

Laura Crimaldi, Eric Moskowitz, and Jan Ransom of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Felicia Gans can be reached at felicia.gans@ globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Felicia Gans.