LITTLE ROCK — A former Independence County coroner who was shot in front of his Batesville home May 10 has died, authorities said Tuesday.
Hardy Willis, 55, died Sunday at White River Medical Center in Batesville, Lt. Jimmy Smith of the Independence County sheriff’s office said.
Police said Willis was shot at his Byers Street home at 2:05 p.m. May 10. He was taken to the Batesville hospital with a gunshot wound in his back.
He died later of complications, Smith said.
Willis’ body was sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock.
Smith said no arrests have been made. He said he was apprehensive about considering Willis’ death a homicide until an autopsy is conducted.
“We’re looking at all angles,” he said.
Willis was the county’s coroner from 2005 to 2011. He was a funeral home director for more than 25 years at the Hardy-Willis Funeral Home and later Hardy and Loresa’s Family Funeral Service, both in Batesville.
“He was excited about the funeral home business, but he was apprehensive when he was going into business for himself,” said Gary Bridgman, an Independence County justice of the peace who knew Willis.
“But he built up a good business before he got into trouble,” Bridgman said.
Willis was charged in U.S. District Court in Little Rock with conspiring with others to sell marijuana from 1997 through July 2009, after Dallas police said they discovered 100 pounds of marijuana hidden in a casket in a van from his Batesville funeral home.
Willis told police the van had been stolen from the funeral home the day before it was stopped in Dallas.
Three others were charged with Willis. Police said they believed the four sold more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana during a 12-year period.
Willis pleaded innocent to the charge and in December 2010 a U.S. District Court jury acquitted Willis after deliberating for nearly 3 hours.
Wesley Gay defeated Willis for the Independence County coroner’s seat in 2010. Willis helped Gay during the transitional period.
“He was a great funeral home director,” Gay said. “He worked well with me when I became coroner.”
Bridgman called Willis “eccentric,” but said people liked him.
“He was a different type of guy,” Bridgman said. “But he was real friendly and people really liked his character. He was an interesting person.”
Bridgman said Willis recently talked about being the “target of things” and “getting in trouble.”
He said the May 10 shooting has added to Willis’ mystique.
“If anyone was going to write a murder mystery, it’d be Hardy,” Bridgman said. “He always liked intrigue, and now he created some of his own intrigue.”
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 05/30/2012