DANVILLE -- Police in this Yell County town have arrested a Danville man in the recent deaths of two sisters at a home along Arkansas 10 just outside the city limits.
Mark Allan Watts, 47, was being held at the county jail without bail in the July 2 deaths of the homeowner, Phyllis Ann Chambers, 55, and her sister, Martha Jane Veazey, 63, Police Chief Rick Padgett said in a news release Tuesday.
Padgett said the women died from blunt-force trauma. He said divers have been searching an area west of the crime scene for the murder weapon. He did not say what body of water was being searched or what kind of weapon authorities believe was used in the killings.
Padgett said in an email later that the victims and the suspect knew one another.
Padgett said he expects Prosecuting Attorney Tom Tatum's office to file murder charges but was not more specific. Tatum's office said Wednesday afternoon that it had not received a report from the police and had not filed any charges in the case yet.
State Desk on 07/27/2017