No arrests in 7 of year's Little Rock slayings; witnesses not talking, police say

Inside the Little Rock Police Department's homicide unit, Junius Pitts Jr.'s name appears on a board along with the names of other homicide victims.

But his name is in red, marking his as a case that has gone without an arrest.

His mother, Loretta Lent, still waits for detectives to find the person who shot and killed her 19-year-old son on Asher Avenue in January. An arrest, she said, would help bring some closure.

"I could be able to take a deep breath and know that they wouldn't be able to do this to anybody else," she said. "I would hate for anybody to feel what I feel."

Of the 19 homicide cases in Little Rock this year, seven cases have gone without an arrest, including Pitts' and two other cases involving victims who were 22 years old or younger, according to police records.

During the same period last year, only one homicide case went without investigators identifying a suspect, according to police records. At this point last year, Little Rock had recorded the same number of homicides, 19.

Little Rock police Sgt. James Lesher, who oversees the department's homicide unit, said lack of cooperation from witnesses has been the biggest challenge for investigators this year.

Although detectives try to solve cases as quickly as they can, Lesher said, investigators sometimes have to wait to make arrests until evidence gets back from the state Crime Laboratory or witnesses share more information.

Lesher added that he does not get hung up on how long it takes investigators to make an arrest from year to year, since circumstances and witnesses on cases can vary.

Instead of doing sloppy work, he said, he prefers his detectives to be slow and methodical.

"Because I'm not just about making the arrest, I want the conviction," he said. "I don't like to rush a case."

Among homicides that occurred in the past 10 years, Lesher said, there have been no acquittals on a Little Rock case.

Some cases can go unsolved for months before witnesses -- sometimes people who have been arrested in other crimes -- begin to come forward with information on a homicide, he said. As time goes on after a killing, loyalties can shift and friendships can weaken.

"They don't want to be labeled as a snitch, and they won't snitch, unless they have to," he said. "If they can save their bacon, a lot of times they will come closer to doing that."

Sometimes, he said, a witness who could put a suspect behind bars will not talk to investigators out of fear of retaliation.

It also takes time for evidence to be tested. He said some in-house testing can shorten the wait time, but other evidence has to be sent to the Crime Lab, such as the microscopic comparison of bullets found at a scene, which can tell detectives whether multiple bullets were fired from the same gun.

Since the death of her son in January, Lent said, she has tried her best to keep his name in the public eye.

Earlier this year, Lent printed about 300 fliers and passed them out across the city, even stapling a few to telephone poles. She also put up a sign at the scene of the shooting on Asher Avenue, asking for anybody with information to contact detectives.

"I don't want him to be forgotten; I don't want the situation to be, like, swept under the rug," she said, tearing up.

Since her son's death, Lent said, she feels like a different person.

She deals with depression, panic attacks and severe post traumatic stress disorder with disassociation, she said. She goes to therapy twice a week and said she gets flashbacks of being at the shooting scene.

"I feel like every day is a challenge for her, for the whole family," said LaTrish Pitts, Lent's daughter.

Police spokesman Lt. Steve McClanahan said there is still no suspect in the case and that police will need help from the community to solve it.

After an initial notification, detectives meet with the family of a homicide victim to talk about the department's expectations on making an arrest in a case, given the circumstances of the death, Lesher said.

Jim Golden, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the first few days of any homicide investigation are the most critical, since those provide the best time to talk with witnesses and collect forensic evidence.

When called out to a scene, Lesher said, detectives track down all leads related to the case before they go home.

"We may be here 24 hours, we may be here 36 hours, we may be here 48 hours. We are going to run every lead we can possibly run, as quickly as we can run them, to get a head start," he said.

The unit works as a team, and every investigator is briefed on all the cases the unit handles. Lesher said cases without an arrest weigh on his investigators, as well.

"These guys think about their cases all the time," he said.

Metro on 08/15/2016

*CORRECTION: Ramale Collier was arrested in connection with the death of Eunice Lopez. Collier’s last name was spelled incorrectly in an information box. Also, Kihilil Foley was charged in connection with the death of Mario Thompson. Foley’s first name was spelled incorrectly in the box. And homicide victim Cordarell Collins was 22 years old. His age was listed incorrectly.