CONWAY -- A 17-year-old boy and his girlfriend, both accused in the killings of a younger friend's guardians, pleaded innocent in separate court appearances Tuesday.
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Connor Atchley of Greenbrier and Anastasia Roberts, 17, of Conway entered the pleas before Circuit Judge Troy Braswell in Faulkner County Circuit Court.
Both are charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and felony theft by receiving in the July 21 shooting deaths of Robert and Patricia Cogdell, both 66, of Conway.
Neither Atchley nor Roberts, both handcuffed and in jail clothes, said anything audible in court. They also did not see each other as their appearances were several hours apart.
Justin Staton, 14, who lived with the Cogdells, and Hunter Drexler, 18, of Clinton had previously pleaded innocent to charges of capital murder, aggravated robbery, abuse of a corpse and theft of property by threat.
The four teenagers are charged as adults.
In Circuit Court on Tuesday, Justin's grandfather, Randy Staton, 58, and mother, Michelle Staton, 36, also entered innocent pleas to charges of hindering apprehension or prosecution.
Randy Staton is the only one of the six charged in connection with the killings and their aftermath to have been released from jail. He is free on $35,000 bond.
Braswell kept Atchley and Roberts' bail at $500,000 each. Justin Staton and Drexler are jailed without bail.
Michelle Staton's bail in this case is set at $50,000, but she was held without bail on outstanding drug charges because of a previous failure to appear in court.
At the end of Roberts' afternoon hearing, her attorney, Jim Wyatt, said she had one request -- to hug her mother who was sitting in the courtroom. Braswell declined the request, noting that times are set aside for such meetings, during visitation at the county jail.
Neither Wyatt nor Atchley's attorney, Frank Shaw, objected to a prosecution motion to take DNA samples from the youths.
Braswell granted a motion by Randy Staton's attorney, Omar Greene, to transfer Staton's case to another court division after Greene said he didn't view his client as a co-defendant of the teenagers. Circuit Judge Charles Clawson Jr. will now hear Randy Staton's case.
Braswell also could transfer Michelle Staton's case if she makes a similar request.
Police affidavits have quoted family members as saying the four youths went to Randy and Michelle Staton's Conway home after the shootings.
Police arrested Justin Staton there after officers found the Cogdells' bodies on property outside the couple's west Conway home on July 22. By then, police said, the other three youths had fled to Texas, where they were arrested.
According to a police affidavit filed in court, Atchley told officers that a plan to kill the Cogdells for money and credit cards was conceived while he and the other two boys were in a juvenile lockup. Atchley reportedly said he told his girlfriend, Roberts, about the plan after he was released, the affidavit said.
"Anastasia advised that there was a plan to shoot and kill Justin's grandparents. She and [Connor] planned to run away and were promised a BMW to use on their run," the affidavit said.
Police said Patricia Cogdell was sitting in the BMW when someone shot her through a window.
State Desk on 10/14/2015