Posted on 06/16/2002 1:13:51 PM PDT by a-whole-nother-box-of-pandoras
3 bodies found in burning car; police baffled
STEPHEN DEERE AND AMY SCHLESING
JEFFERSON -- Members of a rural Jefferson County hunting club discovered a triple homicide that left three bodies burned beyond recognition and Jefferson County investigators baffled.
Police have no suspects in the Friday night slaying of three people they found bound and shot in a burning Ford alongside Mail Route Road in northwest Jefferson County.
The bodies have been taken to the state Crime Laboratory for autopsy and identification, said Capt. Ken Slocum Jr. of the Jefferson County sheriff's office. The car was moved from the site for further analysis.
Deputies responding to a car fire shortly before 10 p.m. Friday on Mail Route Road near the Pulaski County line, found a four-door Ford engulfed in flames. As Redfield firefighters doused the blaze, deputies saw two bodies tied in the back seat and a third body in the open trunk.
Witnesses heard eight to 15 gunshots moments before they saw the flames, Slocum said. Shell casings were collected at the scene, but Slocum would not release the caliber of those casings because the case is still under investigation.
Slocum would not say to whom the burnt car was registered but said it had a Texas license plate.
Chris Tillman, an area resident, said he was sitting, drinking beer beside a bonfire with about 25 others at the Tillman Hunting Club just off of Mail Route Road.
About 9:30 p.m., he heard three gunshots, followed by five or six more that sounded muffled.
"It could have been a pistol," he said. "It was a [semi] automatic."
Tillman and a friend, who would give his name only as "Porkchop," got in Tillman's pickup and drove toward the shots.
The pair saw a maroon car speed away as two men ran across the county road into the woods.
As Tillman continued, he passed another car on the west side of the road with an open trunk that appeared to contain a body.
"He looked like a big guy," Tillman said. "His knees were all scrunched up."
Tillman followed the maroon car about a quarter-mile to the intersection of Stagecoach and Mail Route roads where it turned east toward Interstate 530. Tillman turned west.
After driving a few hundred yards, Tillman turned around and drove back toward the intersection where he saw two men getting into the car. The car then sped away.
On his return to the hunting club, Tillman saw the abandoned Ford engulfed in flames. He called 911 on a cell phone and alerted his neighbor, a Redfield volunteer firefighter.
The firefighter, who asked not to be identified because his wife feared retribution, said he thinks fuel was used to ignite the fire because it was difficult to extinguish.
When the flames were out, he saw two bodies tied up in the back seat and the third body in the trunk.
"You couldn't tell if they were men or women," he said.
He and his wife packed up their family and spent the night elsewhere Friday night. They said they worried that the people responsible might have remained nearby.
Tillman could not describe the driver or say how many people fled in the vehicle besides the driver and the two men he saw get in the car.
"It happened so quick you didn't have time to get afraid," he said.
On the Tillman Hunting Club grounds, campers and mobile homes are parked near a tin awning covering a fire pit and picnic tables.
Confederate flags emblazoned with "In God We Trust" fly overhead and antlers hang like trophies on nearby trees.
On weekend nights, about 10 to 25 people come to barbecue, drink and tell stories, Tillman said.
Occasionally they hear gunshots in the distance, and Tillman always checks them out.
"Most of the time it ain't nothing going on," he said. "Something like last night, you don't see something like that."
1)Related to meth production/distribution.
2)Jefferson County is in close proximity to Tunica,MS.
Well, I kinda thought we had it all down here in Florida, but I guess Arkansas's got us beat!
Arkancide?
Where were the Clintons?
Sighhhhhh........only in Arkansas.
I know of 440 & 430.
Probably three Union agitators who were trying to get more union worker contracts on the 'toon Liebrary. Once again, Willie shafts his supporters.
Heck, I'm gonna take the nickname "Boiled Crawdads"
Since it is down the street (so to speak) from College Station (not the Aggie one) I will bet on gang banging.
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