LITTLE ROCK — The death of a Mabelvale man whose body was found Wednesday evening is being investigated as a homicide, Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper said Thursday.
An autopsy performed Thursday and evidence at the scene indicate 44-yearold Charles Vining was killed, Camper said.
About 9:20 p.m., police were called to Vining’s house at 10306 Aston Drive where a friend found him lying dead inside, police said.
The friend, Joseph Brown, told police he hadn’t heard from Vining for two days and when he knocked on the door no one answered, according to a detective’s summary.
Brown said he then entered the home through a window that he knew to be broken in a back bedroom, the summary said. As soon as he entered, he smelled a “foul odor” and then found Vining, the summary said. He then called police. The summary notes that Vining’s body showed “no signs of visible injury.”
Camper said the body was in an “advanced state of decomposition,” and Vining had been dead for “days.” Camper declined to release Vining’s cause of death because a LittleRock police investigation is ongoing.
Detectives had interviewed people in connection with Vining’s death, but Lt. Dana Jackson said investigators were only calling it “a suspicious death” as of Thursday evening.
Vining’s Mercury Marquis was missing from his house when police arrived, the summary notes, but Jackson said the vehicle had been recovered Thursday.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 07/23/2010