LITTLE ROCK — Investigators say the daughter of a Fayetteville woman who was strangled 14 years ago was a murder suspect all along. But authorities weren’t able to make an arrest until the victim was positively identified earlier this month.
Investigators say money appears to be the motive in the 1996 death of Goldie Thornsberry of Fayetteville. Thornsberry’s daughter, Reta Flowers, and Flowers’ ex-husband, Raymond Douglas, both face first-degree murder charges.
Land surveyors discovered Thornsberry’s remains in 2000 in a water well in west Little Rock. The remains weren’t identified until a local television station aired a police reconstruction of the victim’s face.
Police say they began suspecting Douglas and Flowers in Thornsberry’s disappearance after suspicious activity occurred on her bank accounts.
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