CHICAGO • The United States authorities have arrested employees of two prestigious universities accused in the grisly stabbing death of a Chicago hairstylist, following a nationwide manhunt on Friday.

Wyndham Lathem, 42, of Northwestern University in Chicago and Andrew Warren, 56, of Oxford University in England were in police custody in Oakland, California, according to a tweet from a Chicago police spokesman.

The pair had been named as suspects in the attack that was so brutal, the blade of the knife used in the murder had broken off, police said.

Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, a 26-year-old hairstylist, was found dead in Lathem's Chicago apartment last week with multiple stab wounds, according to the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

The authorities revealed on Friday that Lathem had sent a video message to his friends and family members apologising for the crime.

Officials have not disclosed the connection between the two suspects or their relationship with the victim.

Lathem is a medical researcher and associate professor at Northwestern University's downtown Chicago campus. He has been employed by the university for 10 years.

The school said in a statement that Lathem was "placed on administrative leave and banned from entering the Northwestern University campuses".

On a university Web page that has since been deleted, Warren was listed as a senior treasury assistant at Oxford's Somerville College.

Among the unanswered questions was why Warren suddenly left Britain for his first trip to Chicago on July 24, according to the Tribune.

Another mystery is a US$1,000 (S$1,360) donation to a library in the neighbouring state of Wisconsin made after the attack in the victim's name, according to the newspaper.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS