BENTON — Police confirmed Thursday that one of the two bodies found at a Traskwood property Wednesday was identified as Joe Lee Richards Jr. - the missing son of a Benton alderman.
Benton police arrested Marissa Wright, 50, who lived at the 2902 W. Main St. address in Traskwood where the bodies were found, and charged her with one count of capital murder.
Benton Police Chief Kirk Lane said police believe Wright and Joe Lee RichardsJr., 39, were involved in a romantic “on-again-off-again” relationship at the time of his disappearance.
Wright had been undergoing treatment at Saline County Memorial Hospital since Tuesday and was arrested upon her release Thursday. She was held in the Saline County jail Thursday night pending an arraignment and bail hearing.
Police and a Saline County sheriff ’s office spokesman said at a news conference Thursday afternoon that the second body found Wednesday was that of a man, but his next of kin had not yet been notified.
The sheriff ’s office will take over the investigation into that death, Saline County Sheriff Bruce Pennington said. The second man had not been reported missing, he said.
Benton police spokesman Lt. Kevin Russell said investigators are awaiting autopsy results to help determine whether the two deaths were part of the same crime.
Russell said Wright had not been charged in the death of the second man, but would not rule out additional charges against her or new arrests in the case.
He said no charges were expected against Wright’s father, R.B. Wright, who also lives at the Traskwood address where the bodies were found.
The state Crime Laboratory medical examiner’s report had not been completed Thursday, and no cause of death had been released for either man.
“There are a lot of things that we’re still investigating and determining,” Pennington said.
Benton police, Traskwood police, Haskell police, FBI agents, Arkansas State Police investigators, Saline County sheriff’s officers, and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission officers assisted in carrying out search warrants this week in Joe Lee Richards Jr.’s disappearance.
Police had searched a different area of the Traskwood property Monday. Authorities received a tip Tuesday that led to a second warrant to search close to the back porch of the house Wednesday.
Investigators would not discuss the details of the tips that led them to the property, and the documents for the search warrants were sealed by a judge soon after they were requested.
Officers found the two bodies Wednesday between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., Russell said.
Marissa Wright, formerly Marissa Bragg Sharp, was once charged as an accomplice to a 1989 murder, Russell said.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported in 1993 that Wright was granted immunity in exchange for testifying against Frank Pilcher in the death of Jeff Rhodes, 21, of Benton. Pilcher was convicted of capital murder.
Ron Ketelson, 50, also was convicted of capital murder in the case for paying Pilcher and Wright with cocaine to kill Rhodes.
On Oct. 8, 2010, Benton Alderman Joe Lee Richards Sr. reported his son missing.
He told police at the time that he had awakened to find Joe Lee Richards Jr. gone but that all of the son’s belongings - including his truck, identification and money - were still at the home they shared.
Joe Lee Richards Sr., 76, who served as Saline County sheriff before he was an alderman, has had health problems over the past few months and was not able to comment Thursday.
His daughter, Kathy Blue, who was visiting from Georgia, spoke for the family Thursday.
“We’ve been on pins and needles waiting to hear if this was Joey,” she said. “He would have celebrated his 40th birthday this past June. ... I think we’ve all had a sense since he went missing that this had happened.”
Blue is the oldest of the four siblings in the Richards family, and Joe Lee Richards Jr. was the youngest. Blue said he left behind a 16-year-old son, who lives with his mother in Texas.
“[His son] came to visit Dad this weekend and mowed the lawn and helped out. He’s a good person, and he’s a lot like his father,” Blue said.
“I was on the phone with him [Wednesday] when they told us about the bodies, and about all he could say was, ‘I love you, Aunt Kathy.’ I think this has definitely taken a toll on him.”
Blue said her brother’s disappearance has also taken a toll on her father’s health.
Joe Lee Richards Sr. was hospitalized for pneumonia for more than a month until this week, when Blue took him home partly because of the news about her brother.
“Joey lived with Dad these last two years, and even before that he always called and stopped by to check on Dad. I think he came to rely on that,” she said.
“He said he knew if Joey was still alive he would have contacted him by now. It wouldn’t matter where he was, he would have called.”
Visitors went to pay their condolences and beeped through on call waiting throughout the day Thursday.
“If somebody was to come to the door and needed a shirt, [Joey] would give them the shirt off his back. He went out of his way to help people,” Blue said.
“Everybody that knew him thought the world of him. It’s like he never met a stranger - only friends.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 10/07/2011