FORT SMITH -- Lewis Coleman Shores suffocated last November by tying a plastic trash bag over his head as he lay in his bunk in the Sebastian County jail, Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Shue said Friday.
The death of Shores, 19, the prime suspect in the murder of an elderly Fort Smith couple, was ruled a suicide, Shue wrote Friday in review of Arkansas State Police Investigator Corey Mendenhall's investigation into Shores' death.
"You informed me that these plastic trash can liners are in almost all trash cans in the common areas of the detention center," Shue wrote to Mendenhall. "Your investigation did not reveal how Shores came into possession of several of these liners."
Shue concluded in his letter to Mendenhall there was no evidence anyone was criminally responsible for Shores' death other than Shores.
Shores was being held in the county jail on charges of aggravated residential burglary and theft of more than $5,000. He also was accused of being armed with a deadly weapon and breaking into the home of Jimmy Grubb, 81, and Norma Grubb, 79, at 7712 Hermitage Drive.
Mendenhall was called in to investigate Shores' death after a jail deputy discovered Shores unresponsive in his jail bunk Nov. 29. He was being held in the jail's protective custody pod because of previous suicide attempts and suicidal tendencies.
Checking on Shores every 30 minutes, Shue wrote, a jail deputy knocked on the door of Shores' cell about 2:10 p.m. but got no response. The deputy entered the cell after calling for assistance and saw a blanket wrapped around Shores' head. Pulling the blanket aside, the deputy found the plastic bag tied over Shores' head and around his neck.
The deputy removed the bag, and he and others performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until medical personnel arrived and transported him to the hospital. Shores was pronounced dead at 9:24 p.m, Shue wrote.
Shue wrote that an autopsy of Shores conducted at the Arkansas Medical Examiner's office in Little Rock concluded that he died from a lack of oxygen to the brain because the plastic bag obstructed his air passage.
Shores was arrested in Booneville on Sept. 5 following a manhunt that involved several agencies. He became a suspect the day before after being involved in a three-vehicle traffic accident outside Booneville. Witnesses said a man driving a pickup involved in the accident fled the scene carrying a red suitcase.
Checking the license tag of the pickup, officers discovered it belonged to Jimmy Grubb. An officer sent to the Grubbs' residence found the couple dead. Shores never was charged in the deaths. Shue wrote Friday that the death investigation into the Grubbs' deaths would be completed soon.
At one point in the search for Shores, Logan County Sheriff Boyd Hicks was watching a house in Booneville where Shores was believed to be hiding. Hicks saw Shores leave the house and tried to capture him by jumping out of a moving vehicle and tackling Shores as he ran down the street. Hicks hurt his shoulder in the jump, and Shores got away but was arrested later that evening.
Shores' mother, Angela, 43, also died around the time of her son's arrest.
On Sept. 5, officers searching for Lewis Shores went to what remained of an apartment in south Fort Smith where Angela Shores and her son had lived before being evicted in August. Firefighters had extinguished a fire at the apartment the day before, and police said they were unable to locate Angela Shores while there.
On Sept. 10, a decomposing body was discovered under debris in the apartment. The body was later identified as Angela Shores.
State Desk on 03/09/2019