HOT SPRINGS -- The first of three murder victims whose bodies were found in a Nevada Street residence last week was identified Monday by Hot Springs police as Paul Power, 40, of Hot Springs.
Positive identification of Power was made through the state Crime Laboratory, while the other two victims, both female, had not been positively identified as of Monday pending DNA results, police said in a news release.
The three victims were found at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 5 inside a residence at 208 Nevada St. after police received information from a witness. The next day, Nicholas Matthew Lewondowski, 34, of Hot Springs, was arrested on three counts of capital murder.
Lewondowski, who was on parole at the time of the murders, pleaded innocent to all three counts Friday in Garland County District Court via video from the Garland County jail, where he is being held without bail. If convicted on the charges, he faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
A gag order limiting pretrial publicity in the case was issued Friday, and a drug test was ordered for Lewondowski to be conducted Friday. A felony review hearing is set for Jan. 22 when the case will likely be bound over to Garland County Circuit Court.
According to an affidavit, Lewondowski asked the witness for help in disposing of the bodies, and he nailed the doors shut at the Nevada Street residence, reportedly telling the witness he "would just burn the residence down."
The witness said Lewondowski and three of his friends had visited the witness's residence on Dec. 4. At one point, Lewondowski and the three others got into an argument about one member of the group stealing from another member, he said, and Lewondowski got agitated with all three of them.
Lewondowski and the three victims drove to the Nevada Street residence. Lewondowski later called the witness and said he had killed the three victims and needed help moving the victims' vehicles to different locations, according to the affidavit.
When authorities arrived at the residence, they said they found the rear door open and found the bodies of the three victims inside. The affidavit did not indicate the manner of death.
Lewondowski has a criminal history dating back 15 years with more than 14 prior felony convictions, including a conviction for second-degree battery in 2003. He was charged with first-degree battery on Aug. 27, 2016, involving an attack on a fellow inmate at the jail, but the charge was later withdrawn for further investigation.
State Desk on 12/12/2017