Murder suspect seen driving victim's car, trying to sell items, report says

Joe Wicker
Joe Wicker

The man accused of killing his cousin with a knife in her Little Rock home was spotted on the day of her death driving her car and trying to sell items similar to ones taken from her home that day, police documents show.

Joe Wicker, 40, remained in the Pulaski County jail Monday after an initial court appearance over the weekend in which he was ordered held without bail. He faces charges of capital murder and theft of property in the death of Little Rock School District employee Debbie Bush, who was found fatally stabbed Tuesday in her home in the 4100 block of Tatum Street.

Missing from the home was Bush's 2002 Cadillac Deville and some of her possessions, including a flat-screen television, a tennis bracelet, gold necklaces and gold rings, according to a probable cause affidavit released Monday.

Wicker became a suspect after police received information that he had been driving the Cadillac "the day of the homicide" and that he "tried to sell a flat-screen television and a woman's tennis bracelet to an individual," detective Tommy Hudson wrote in the affidavit.

In an interview with police, Wicker said he went to Bush's home the day she was killed, knocked on the door but then left when no one answered, Hudson wrote.

Wicker left, spent the night at a nearby home and the next day "walked to 40th and Barrow where he found the victim's vehicle with the keys inside," the affidavit said. Police say Wicker acknowledged driving the car to a parking lot near his home on Morris Drive, where he left it and authorities later found it.

The report noted that Wicker during the interview was wearing shoes with impressions that "appear to be the same" as ones left in blood at the crime scene. A ring was also recovered from Wicker's pocket.

"This ring was shown to the victim's father and sister who identified this ring as one of the rings taken from the victim's residence," Hudson wrote.

Police haven't said and the report didn't indicate what day investigators believe Bush was killed. She was found Tuesday after a coworker who hadn't heard from her went to the Tatum Street home to check on her.

Bush was a longtime employee for the Little Rock School District in the child nutrition department at Wilson Elementary School.

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