Two charged, third sought in homicide By: Mandie Gober and Steven Mross - The Sentinel-Record The Sentinel-Record/Mara KuhnBODY FOUND: Garland County Coroner Stuart Smedley, foreground, and other officials investigate the area of Gladstone Forest Road, where the body of Dan Roberson, 71, was found on Saturday morning. Roberson’s body, found on the right side of the roadway, was removed about 20 minutes after the photograph was taken, at around 3:30 p.m. The Sentinel-Record/Mara KuhnBODY FOUND: Garland County Coroner Stuart Smedley, foreground, and other officials investigate the area of Gladstone Forest Road, where the body of Dan Roberson, 71, was found on Saturday morning. Roberson’s body, found on the right side of the roadway, was removed about 20 minutes after the photograph was taken, at around 3:30 p.m. Sallee Sallee An 18-year-old Hot Springs Village man and a juvenile were charged with capital murder and another suspect was being sought Saturday after the body of a 71-year-old Garland County man who had been missing since Tuesday was found near a pipeline on national forest land. The 18-year-old, Ethan Patrick Sallee, who lists an address of 113 Elbert Trail, had been in custody at the Garland County Detention Center since 3:36 a.m. Saturday. The charge against Sallee was filed sometime after 6:30 p.m., about three hours after investigators recovered the body of Dan Roberson, who was last seen at his residence on Blakely Camp Road at around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, when his family said he left in his 2012 silver Chevy SKI pickup. Roberson’s body was sent to the state crime lab in Little Rock to determine the exact cause of death. The name of the 17-year-old juvenile was not being released Saturday night. Garland County Sheriff Larry Sanders said Saturday night that a warrant was being sought for the third suspect. “Everyone we have talked to has had nothing but good things to say about Mr. Roberson,” Garland County sheriff’s Deputy Scott Hinojosa said as Roberson’s body was removed at around 3:30 p.m. Saturday from the side of Gladstone Forest Road in the Ouachita National Forest. “It’s just a sad ending to a long few days and our thoughts are with his family at this time,” Hinojosa said. More than 50 family members, volunteers and law enforcement officials, some on ATVs and horseback, searched an area west of Jessieville on West Main Haul Road on Friday after belongings from Roberson’s pickup were found on a trail Thursday. Sanders said Roberson’s body was discovered by a pipeline worker Saturday morning a “pretty good distance from the area where we were searching.” Later, Hinojosa said a volunteer had discovered the body after two suspects, apparently referring to Sallee and the juvenile, had been taken into custody but not yet charged. “The suspects are cooperating with the investigation at this time,” he added. CenterPoint Energy pipeline workers in the area continued to work but were shaken up by the discovery. One pipeline worker, John Bailey, was overcome with emotion. “We can’t slow down the work we are doing, but it just eats me up that someone could do something like this,” said Bailey. “I am in this area a lot for hunting and being from Hot Springs, this has really gotten to all of us. We are sad for his family.” Gladstone Forest Road is off Highway 7 in northern Garland County on its border with Perry County. The body was found in a remote wooded area at around 9:30 a.m. Saturday about 4.5 miles from the highway. Sheriff’s investigators had been searching another area on which they received information, Hinojosa said. Roberson’s truck was at a different, undisclosed location. It was initially reported the FBI had sent an Evidence Recovery Team to assist the sheriff’s department in processing the scene, which was on U.S. Forest Service land, but it was later confirmed that only one FBI special agent responded. “I’m very proud of how our investigators worked this case all night and we had two people of interest in custody prior to them finding the body,” Sanders said. “The victim was seen talking to a couple of guys and we had been developing information over the last few days,” he said. “There was some talk and evidence and there was some information put out about people who might know what was going on. Investigators followed up on several leads and it led to the suspects.” Sanders said he wanted to thank all those who assisted in the search and investigation, including the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Forest Service, FBI, Arkansas State Police, Hot Springs Village Police Department, Hot Springs police, Clark County Sheriff’s Department, Perry County Sheriff’s Department, the 18th Judicial District East Drug Task Force, area constables, the Garland County Mounted Patrol and Search and Rescue, Buckville and Jessieville volunteer firefighters and numerous citizen volunteers. The mounted patrol continued searching well into the night Friday but didn’t return Saturday, GCSD Cpl. Fred Hawthorn said. Much of the area is impassable on horseback, but a lot of territory was covered on Friday, he said. Published: 07/14/2013
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 16:39:38 +0000
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