A Conway woman found dead at a local motel last month died of strangulation after a cord was wrapped around her neck by her boyfriend, who went gambling after her death, police said in an affidavit filed Friday.
Scotty Ray Gardner, 53, of Mayflower is now charged with capital murder in the slaying of his girlfriend, Susan Heather Stubbs, 41, who was found facedown in a room at the Days Inn on Oak Street in Conway shortly before 6:30 p.m. March 6.
Gardner, who was on parole at the time after being in prison for more than 20 years for attempting to kill his former wife, was initially held on a charge of second-degree murder in Stubbs' slaying, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported. The charge was upgraded Friday.
According to the affidavit filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court, Gardner told authorities that on the day of Stubbs’ death, he saw Stubbs talking to men outside the motel and had, for some time, been jealous of her seeing men outside of their relationship.
After that discovery, a conversation between the two escalated, with Gardner telling Conway police that he was annoyed at Stubbs “mouthing off” at him.
“I could only take so much,” Gardner told authorities, adding that he “just snapped on her” after Stubbs pushed him.
Gardner told police that he then grabbed Stubbs and threw her onto a bed in their motel room after she attempted to walk out the door. When Stubbs reached up to scratch Gardner, he then “grabbed her around her throat and ‘tried to choke her out or something,’” according to the affidavit.
“Scotty said he eventually grabbed a nearby cord and ‘wrapped it around her neck,’” the document reads in part. “He said he was trying to knock her out. He said, 'I might have killed her… I don’t know.'”
Gardner remained at the Faulkner County jail without bond as of Friday afternoon, records show. He has a review hearing scheduled for Monday morning in circuit court.
Read Saturday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.