A 37-year-old Arkansas man has been charged with four counts of capital murder in the deaths of a woman, her uncle and her two children, authorities say.
Brian Bliss Travis was arraigned on four counts of murder and one count of furnishing prohibited articles at 9 a.m. Monday in Polk County Circuit Court, according to a news release.
Authorities said Travis helped them find the body of a 9-year-old boy Saturday after the child’s mother, sister and great-uncle were found dead last week. Travis admitted Saturday to killing the four family members, according to an arrest affidavit.
Bethany Jo Wester, 43, was found Tuesday. Her uncle, Steven Payne, 66, was found Thursday. Two-year-old Acelynn Wester was found Friday and Reilly Scarbrough, 9, was found around noon Saturday.
Travis was being held in the Polk County jail on unrelated drug charges when he led them to the boy's body, the Polk County sheriff’s office said. Mena Police Department officers had arrested Travis on Wednesday when they attempted to conduct a welfare check on Wester at her home, the arrest affidavit said.
Authorities later received a description of Wester and identified her as the woman found Tuesday, according to the affidavit.
Travis is believed to have been Wester’s boyfriend, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported, and he is not related to the children.
Travis is being held in the Polk County jail. He has a history of criminal convictions for multiple counts of burglary, theft of property, possession of firearms by certain persons and breaking and entering stretching back to May 1998, according to online court records.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
