LITTLE ROCK — The 38-year-old man who was found shot and killed in his Little Rock home early Sunday afternoon was last seen leaving a nightclub with an “unidentified female,” according to police reports.
Joseph McCardell went out to a club Saturday night with a friend, Jason Harris, who told police he saw his friend leave with the unknown woman and later talked to McCardell on the phone at 2:34 a.m.
Close friends for several years, the two went to Jazzys on Asher Avenue about 10:30 p.m. Harris said the club was one of their favorite hangout spots, but declined to speak further about the case.
A little less than 10 hours later, McCardell’s 15-year old daughter found him in his bedroom at his home at 2018 W. 18th St. and ran to a neighbor’s house to call police.
Police spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis offered no further suspect information Monday and said that investigators were interested in identifying the woman and speaking with her.
Neighbors of McCardell said they didn’t hear any gunshots, and according to Davis, neither did McCardell’s daughter, who slept through the shooting that left her father with a head wound and on his bedroom floor “with blood around him.”
McCardell’s daughter is not a suspect, Davis said, and she said there was no sign of any kind of suppressive device used to quiet a gunshot.
During a search of the home, detectives noted there was no sign of forced entry at McCardell’s home, though they did notice that the home’s side door was open.
McCardell’s daughter told police no one ever used the side door, reports said.
Not long after Little Rock detectives started investigating McCardell’s death they discovered that his truck was missing.
The white 2005 Nissan pickup was found more than three hours after McCardell’s daughter’s call at West 22nd and Scott streets 2 miles from McCardell’s home.
Davis said it was unclear how the vehicle covered the more than 20 block distance from the man’s home, though one neighbor, who refused to be identified, said she saw his truck parked outside when she came home the night before.
Any other missing property, as well as other circumstances of the shooting, remained under investigation.
McCardell’s death is the second homicide of the year in Little Rock.
At this point last year, the city of Little Rock had recorded seven homicides. The year ended with 47 such cases; 10 more homicides than in 2011.
Arkansas, Pages 8 on 01/29/2013