A teenager arrested in the fatal shooting of a woman outside her Little Rock home in January is facing charges in an unrelated case.
Police connected Ramale Collier, 19, to a pawnshop burglary last year through DNA evidence, according to a court affidavit. Collier is accused of breaking into Joyeria Lupita Jewelry at 8801 Geyer Springs Road the morning of Nov. 6, 2015, and stealing a handgun, a shotgun, a laptop computer and silver chain necklaces.
Investigators reportedly found a drop of blood inside the business after the burglary. The state Crime Laboratory earlier this month determined the blood was "consistent" with Collier's DNA profile, according to the affidavit.
Collier was charged Wednesday with commercial burglary and theft of property in the case. He pleaded innocent in Little Rock District Court.
[INTERACTIVE MAP: 2016 Little Rock homicides]
Collier has been held in the Pulaski County jail since Jan. 31, when he surrendered to Little Rock police in the slaying of Eunice Lopez, 27. Two other teens, Darrell Keith Dixon and Kevin Williams Jr., also were arrested in the killing. Dixon and Williams were both 15 at the time.
Police said the three were among a group of youths who approached Lopez in the driveway of her home at 8401 Keats Drive and robbed her. Williams reportedly grabbed Lopez's purse, knocked her to the ground and fatally shot her.
Lopez was holding her 2-year-old daughter during the holdup, according to police.
Collier, Dixon and Williams were each charged with capital murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault and felony theft of property.
Court records show prosecutors dropped the charges against Dixon in April.
The case against Williams and Collier is ongoing. Both have pleaded innocent.
Williams, who reportedly told police he "didn't mean to shoot" Lopez, pleaded innocent by reason of mental disease or defect. Court records show he underwent a mental evaluation on July 25, but "grossly exaggerated" his cognitive impairment and rendered an accurate assessment impossible.
A doctor wrote to Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen that Williams was "intentionally suppressing his knowledge and abilities," and had pretended that he didn't know the meaning of the words "criminal" and "guilty."
Like Collier, police have connected Williams to a separate crime since his arrest in the Lopez killing. He's accused of robbing a man at gunpoint outside the man's home at 11500 Chicot Road on Jan. 29.
The murder case against Collier and Williams is set for a jury trial in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Feb. 14.
Metro on 11/19/2016