The owner of a Russellville-based car dealership and his wife were found shot to death in their home Tuesday.
Cleaning personnel who visited the house on Shiloh Road in Russellville daily found the bodies of Keith Cogswell, 55, and his wife, Leanna, 39, at roughly 10 a.m. and notified authorities, Pope County Sheriff Shane Jones told reporters.
“We believe that this incident is domestic in nature,” Jones said during a news conference. “We do not believe that [any] other parties are involved at this time.”
The sheriff would not say if the couple’s children were at school at the time of the deaths.
According to the couple’s Facebook pages, they had been married since April 2003.
“They were both sweet people,” Jones said. “Just a tragedy. … This is a shock.”
The sheriff declined to comment on how many times each victim was shot.
Jones said the bodies would be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory in Little Rock.
Leanna Cogswell's Facebook profile picture, which was updated last year, shows a photograph of her husband and three children. The couple had three children, according to an April 2014 article in a special section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Keith Cogswell III was the president and third-generation owner of the company, founded in 1949 by Keith Cogswell Sr., according to that article.
Cogswell Motors issued a statement saying it “is deeply saddened to learn of the deaths of Keith and Leanna Cogswell. We will honor their memories by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work that Keith loved so much. Cogswell Motors desires to respect the Cogswell family’s privacy, and therefore we do not have any further comment at this difficult time.”
Keith Cogswell Jr. joined the company in 1950 after returning from college and became president in 1958 after his father’s death.
The 2014 article said the daughters of Keith Cogswelll III and his wife were then ages 6 and 10 and their son was an infant.
“It’s a family business, and I certainly hope that my kids will want to take part,” Keith Cogswell III told the paper.
The Arkansas State Police and the Russellville Police Department assisted in the investigation but referred questions to the sheriff’s office. Jones did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
*CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect date for when Leanna Cogswell's Facebook profile picture was updated.