TRASKWOOD — Police found two sets of human remains Wednesday at a Traskwood home while investigating a tip in the 2010 disappearance of a Benton alderman’s son.
Benton police, Traskwood police, Saline County sheriff’s officers, state Crime Laboratory investigators, and agents from the Little Rock FBI office discovered the bodies at 2902 W. Main St. in Traskwood between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Wednesday. Police had also searched the property Monday.
The remains were sent early Wednesday afternoon to the state Crime Laboratory for identification and autopsy.
More than a dozen cars were parked neatly in rows on the front lawn of the rustic brown house off the main thoroughfare in Traskwood, a small Saline County town surrounded by timber lands that made headlines last year for an intentionally set wildfire that burned hundreds of acres.
Benton police spokesman Lt. Kevin Russell said Wednesday that police are not releasing details of exactly where on the property the bodies were found, whether they were buried or the suspected cause of death because of the ongoing investigation.
Authorities worked for hours just a few feet from the backdoor of the home, which is set back from the road. Several investigators moved wheelbarrows and buckets of dirt to forensics experts, who sifted the dirt with box sieves for fragments of remains or other clues in the investigation.
“I can say that the remains were found in close proximity to the house,” Russell said. “We do have a person of interest, and we expect charges to be filed soon, probably in the next few days.”
Russell said he could not confirm the identities of the bodies or their sexes pending the autopsy but that a tip in the disappearance of Joe Lee Richards Jr. of Benton - the son of Benton Alderman Joe Lee Richards Sr. - led police to the location where the bodies were found.
Joe Lee Richards Sr. did not return phone messages or e-mails Wednesday.
In his original statement to police, the alderman reported his son missing Oct. 8, 2010.
He told police that when he went to bed, his son, 39, was on the computer, and when he woke up the next morning, his son was gone. His son’s truck, wallet, identification and money were all still at the house they shared, he told police.
Russell said Benton police have investigated numerous tips in the year since Joe Lee Richards Jr. was reported missing.
He said that after medical examiners determine the identities of the remains, the families would be notified before any public statement is released.
Police searched the Traskwood property Monday and obtained an additional warrant for Wednesday to search an area closer to the home after receiving another tip.
Russell would not discuss further details of the tips, and a judge had sealed the search warrants and probable-cause paperwork as of Wednesday afternoon.
The home’s owners are listed in Saline County assessor’s office records as R.B. Wright and Marissa Wright.
Russell said he did not know where the residents of the home were Wednesday and would not discuss their role in the investigation.
A woman who answered the phone number listed under the West Main Street address Wednesday said she was not Marissa Wright but would not give her name and asked not to be called again.
Yellow tape outlined most of the property line, excluding a shared vegetable garden abutting the road. Trees and cars shaded most of the investigators’ work from the public view.
Neighbors at several houses stood on their porches or in their backyards less than a hundred feet away watching police, but many refused to comment.
A neighbor down the street from the Traskwood property said he had seen Joe Lee Richards Jr. helping chop firewood and performing other chores on several occasions for the elderly man who lived at the home searched by police.
The neighbor - who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because an arrest had not been made in the case - said the homeowners and their family members who live nearby had been friendly and quiet neighbors.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/06/2011