PB woman slain, teen daughter hurt

Suspect, 20, jailed after standoff

— A Pine Bluff man was arrested in the slaying of a woman after an early morning standoff with police in which he held her teenage daughter hostage, police said Friday.

Shirley Owney, 39, was attacked inside her Poplar Street apartment about 3 a.m. Friday, Pine Bluff police spokesman Lt. Bob Rawlinson said.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Owney’s daughter was taken from the apartment and attacked at a nearby abandoned house, Rawlinson said.

The girl, 16, was seriously injured and was taken to a Little Rock hospital Friday afternoon, Rawlinson said.

Her name, condition and the details of how she was injured were not released.

Kevin McMiller, 20, was held without bail at the Jefferson County jail on charges of capital murder, attempted capital murder, three counts of rape, kidnapping, firstdegree battery, terroristic threatening and aggravated residential robbery.

A motive in the killing wasn’t released because of the ongoing investigation, Rawlinson said.

Rawlinson said “there were obvious signs of trauma resulting from possible stab wounds” on Owney’s body, though an autopsy will determine the exact cause of death.

Police and Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services crews were called to Owney’s apartment after a neighbor smelled smoke, Rawlinson said.

Firefighters made their way into Owney’s apartment and extinguished a small fire in the kitchen, Rawlinson said.

After f inding Owney facedown and unresponsive on her kitchen floor, police followed a trail of evidence several blocks away from her 2121 S. Poplar St. apartment and found her daughter inside an abandoned house at 1006 W. 21st St., Rawlinson said.

Off icers “observed a black male [later identified as McMiller] holding a knife and pulling the black female into a bathroom,” Rawlinson said.

“Negotiators were able to establish a dialogue with McMiller, and eventually he released the girl and surrendered. The knife believed to have been used to attack Owney was recovered,” he said.

Owney was pronounced dead at her apartment by Jefferson County Coroner Chad Kelley. Her remains were to be taken to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock.

A spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services said she wasn’t allowed to say whether the agency was involved in the teenager’s care Friday.

“We are not able to release information about specific cases, nor can we confirm that we intervened in the situation,” Kate Luck said.

“In general, if we were to receive a phone call from law enforcement or from the child-abuse hot line, we would become involved to assess the safety of the child,” she said.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/24/2012

Upcoming Events