VAN BUREN -- A Crawford County man pleaded innocent before a circuit judge Wednesday after being charged Tuesday with capital murder in the ax-handle beating death of a man.
Randall Lavan Jordan, 35, is accused of beating Larry Eugene Jones, 59, as he slept in his bed early on June 10. Jones died shortly after at Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith.
A preliminary autopsy report from the state medical examiner's office said the cause of Jones' death was craniocerebral injuries.
A report by Crawford County sheriff's Cpl. Halbert Torraca said he observed injuries on Jones' face, right temple, the back of his head as well as fresh abrasions and bruises all over his body.
Deputy Bradley Carney arrested Jordan at Jones' home at 5305 Grand Juniper Road in rural Van Buren where a neighbor had held Jordan at gunpoint until the deputy arrived.
The public defender's office was appointed to represent Jordan, who was being held in the Crawford County jail in lieu of $500,000 bond.
According to Carney's report, Jordan would not give a statement about the attack on Jones and asked for a lawyer.
Family and witnesses told deputies Jordan had been living with Jones but that Jones kicked him out of the house. Jordan still had a key to the home and used it to go inside, reports said.
One of Jones' sisters, Roxanna Faldon, said in a report that Jordan told her while they waited for deputies to arrive June 10 that Jones had given him a key months ago. Faldon said Jordan asked her, "'What did he expect to happen?'" according to a sheriff's report.
A guest who had been staying at Jones' house for five days, Melissa Qualls, told deputies she was awakened about 5 a.m. on June 10 to the whining of one of her dogs, the report said. Qualls said she could hear someone gasping for air and when she looked into Jones' bedroom she said she saw the shadow of someone striking down with a large object, the report said. With each strike, she said, Jones made a loud grunting noise.
Qualls gathered up her dogs, ran next door and banged on the door of Jones' uncle, Walter Young, and told him someone was being hurt, the report said. Young ran next door to the home of Jones' son, Riley, and told him there was trouble and to get his gun.
Riley Jones told deputies that he fired his gun into the air as he ran to his father's house because he didn't know what was going on inside, according to a report. He confronted Jordan, still holding the ax handle, in the dark standing in the doorway to his father's bedroom, the report said.
Riley Jones asked Jordan where his father was, Qualls told deputies. She said Jordan replied that Larry Jones was fine and that he ran out the back door.
"'He's a liar. He's a liar. Look, I can see his legs. He's lying there,'" the report quoted Qualls as saying.
Riley Jones gave the gun to Young and told him to watch Jordan until deputies arrived while he picked up his father and drove him to Sparks.
Riley Jones told deputies he did not know what was going on between Jordan and his father, but he said his father complained to him earlier that he kicked Jordan out of the house because he wouldn't do anything around the house, wouldn't help pay bills or try to get a job.
Larry Jones' daughter-in-law, Cara Jones, told deputies in a report that Jordan was depressed. He had lost his mother, his job and his wife divorced him.
State Desk on 06/23/2016