Police ID mom, 2 children slain in Little Rock residence; officers find car, no suspects

Little Rock police continued their investigation Wednesday into the killings of a 24-year-old woman and her two young children. The three were found dead in the family's Little Rock apartment Tuesday afternoon.

In a Police Department statement released Wednesday, authorities identified the woman as Mariah Cunningham and her children as 5-year-old Alayah Fisher and 3-year-old Elijah Fisher.

Cunningham's grandmother, Sheba Cunningham, found the bodies in an apartment at Rosewood Apartments at 6600 Lancaster Road. According to the statement, the grandmother went to check on the family after the children did not arrive at school and she was not able to reach her granddaughter.

Officers were dispatched to the apartment complex after receiving a report of a possible suicide, but police said the deaths are being investigated as homicides.

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Photos by Ryan Tarinelli and Staton Breidenthal

Police said Wednesday that they had no information on a suspect in the case, and the victims' bodies were taken to the state medical examiner's office to determine the causes of death.

The homicides raise the number of killings in Little Rock to 55 this year, as of Wednesday afternoon.

The two children are among the youngest homicide victims in Little Rock this year.

City officials and community leaders called the killings a tragedy and a result of senseless violence.

[HOMICIDE MAP: Interactive map of Little Rock’s 2017 killings]

"It just tears at the core of your heart," said City Director Ken Richardson.

To some, the deaths of the young children were reminiscent of last year's holiday season, when 2-year-old Ramiya Reed and 3-year-old Acen King were fatally shot in separate incidents while riding in vehicles with family members.

Richardson, who represents the ward where the bodies were found Tuesday, said the homicides have sparked anger in the community.

"I can't tell you how many people have called me," he said.

Mayor Mark Stodola said he was sickened by the killings, and he described them as a "total tragedy."

During their investigation in the case, police determined that Mariah Cunningham's vehicle was missing from the apartment complex. The 2004 Honda Accord was found hours later at another apartment complex in southwest Little Rock, according to a report.

The report said police found the vehicle at 43 Warren Drive, about 3.5 miles from the apartment complex on Lancaster Road.

Lt. Michael Ford, a department spokesman, said Gregory Fisher, who was arrested early Wednesday on unrelated charges, is the children's father. Officer Steve Moore, another police spokesman, said Gregory Fisher is not currently a suspect in the killings.

A Pulaski County sheriff's office spokesman said Fisher was charged with failure to appear and was being held for Jefferson County authorities.

Ford asked that anyone with information in Tuesday's slayings contact authorities.

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Metro on 12/07/2017

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