CONWAY -- Three teenagers described as "persons of interest" in the shooting deaths last week of a Conway couple were turned over to Arkansas authorities Tuesday.
The three teens -- who had been jailed in Graham, Texas, on misdemeanor charges after police stopped their vehicle early Thursday -- arrived at the Faulkner County jail about 3:30 p.m., said Chief Deputy Matt Rice of the Faulkner County sheriff's office.
Investigators have been questioning the teens, all 17, as well as 14-year-old Justin Staton, who has been jailed since a day after the July 21 slayings of Robert and Patricia Cogdell at their home on Quail Run Circle in west Conway.
The Cogdells, both 66, were Justin's legal guardians and had raised him since he was a small boy. In a 2010 petition seeking guardianship of him, the Cogdells said the child still thought that their son was his biological father and that they were his grandparents despite a paternity test in 2008 indicating otherwise.
Justin is jailed without bail on capital murder but has not been formally charged.
No one else has been charged in the case either, Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland said Tuesday.
Hiland declined further comment, citing the investigation.
Unless the youths are formally charged as adults in Arkansas, they are considered juveniles under state law.
The Graham Leader newspaper in Texas last week identified the teenagers, who were held there on misdemeanor charges, as Hunter John Drexler, Conner Hunter Atchley and Anastasia Rose Roberts. In Texas, a 17-year-old is considered an adult under the law.
Police in Texas described the three as "runaways" and said they were "persons of interest" in the deaths of the Cogdells. Conway police found the couple's bodies dumped by a wooded area behind a shed on their property.
In April, Justin's maternal grandfather, Randy Staton, filed a motion in Conway County Circuit Court seeking to be the boy's "substitute guardian." Now that Justin was a teenager, he wanted to live with his biological family, the grandfather wrote. Justin was still living with the Cogdells when they died.
In the past couple of years, Conway police had answered numerous calls seeking help at the Cogdells' home, several to deal with problems involving a juvenile, police reports indicate.
Justin's Facebook page, which doesn't appear to have been active since 2013, reflects some items typical of children. Under books he's read is listed the popular children's novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. There's also a picture of him with his arm wrapped around another young boy as if they're friends. But there's also a picture of Justin wearing a cap and staring at the blade of a knife as he holds it in front of his face.
The picture, posted June 4, 2013, prompted one person to remark, "OMG that's knife so close to ur eye." Justin later replied, "Its not close to my eye the way the camera is it looks close to my eye."
State Desk on 07/29/2015