LITTLE ROCK — HARDY - A rural Fulton County man was charged with first-degree murder Wednesday in the slaying of his girlfriend, authorities said.
Farrell Stark, 43, is accused of killing Theresa Kosik, 42, last weekend in a small tarpapered shack they shared on East Stone Creek Drive just north of Hardy, Fulton County Sheriff Walter Dillinger said.
Kosik was slain "over the weekend," Arkansas State Police investigator Dennis Simons said.
Simons would not say how Kosik was killed or when she died because the case is still under investigation, he said. The body was sent to the state Crime Laboratory for autopsy.
The body was found Tuesday inside a bedroom when Hardy Police Chief Ernie Rose checked on Kosik after receiving a call from someone concerned about her whereabouts.
"[Rose] went to the home ona welfare check," Simons said. "When he got there, he could smell decomposition."
The rural home was padlocked; Stark and Kosik had lived together, but Stark had moved out Monday, Dillinger said. He had stayed in the home with the body for at least a couple of days before moving, police said.
Stark was charged Wednesday in Fulton County Circuit Court. He remained in the county jail in Salem with his bail set at $250,000, Dillinger said.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 09/04/2008