2 men charged in western Arkansas shooting death

RUDY — Two men face capital murder charges in the shooting death of a 19-year-old in western Arkansas.

Jonathan Bridgewater, 27, and Nicholas Barrows, 19, half-brothers from Rudy, are accused of fatally shooting Jamison Lee Plum, 19, the Southwest Times Record reported. Barrows also faces a charge of criminal use of a prohibited weapon, after police said they found pipe bombs during a search of his home.

Plum's body was discovered last month with multiple gunshot wounds in a shallow grave on property owned by the suspects' grandmother. Both men lived on the property in separate homes.

Online court records do not show an attorney for the men, who are being held on no bail at the Crawford County jail. They were charged with capital murder Monday.

Police found the victim's body after Bridgewater's then-girlfriend reported he had shown her Plum's corpse underneath a tarp in the woods.

Capital murder is punishable by life in prison or the death penalty. The prohibited weapon charge is punishable by five to 20 years in prison.

"A decision on the death penalty will be decided later on, after a complete and thorough investigation by the sheriff's office," Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune said.

Investigators have interviewed several people about the case but a clear motive has not yet emerged.

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