LITTLE ROCK — Hours after officers found a woman dead in a North Little Rock man’s apartment, he was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday afternoon.
Jeffrey Averett, who turned 50 on Sunday, walked into the North Little Rock Police Department’s detectives division about 10 a.m. Tuesday and said he wanted to see a detective because “he thought he might have killed somebody,” said officer Carmen Helton, the department spokesman.
Officers went to Averett’s residence in the Latona Apartments at 116 Latona Lane and found Joann Sessler with “several stab wounds,” Helton said.
Averett remained in police custody while detectives got a warrant to further search the apartment.
Sessler, 50, lived nearby with her mother and her sister, Jennifer Watson, police said. When Watson saw police at Averett’s apartment late Tuesday morning, she said she figured that, given her neighbor’s “depressed” demeanor, it was a suicide.
Hours later, she found out it was her sister who had died just two doors down.
Helton couldn’t comment on a motive for Sessler’s slaying other than to say investigators suspect she and Averett had some kind of a relationship.
According to Watson, Averett took a liking to her sister roughly a year ago, and though the two were never romantically involved, he was drawn to her.
Sessler’s death marks the ninth homicide in North Little Rock this year, matching the total in 2010.
At this point last year, the city had recorded 12 of its 13 homicides in 2011.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/05/2012