A Little Rock man who told police that there were two dead women in his house Tuesday was booked into the Pulaski County jail on two charges of first-degree murder early Wednesday, a police spokesman said.
Officers arrested Montrell Lamar Burns, 32, around 11 p.m. Tuesday, 12 hours after investigators found the bodies of Shameika Eason, 35, and Mallida Webb, 36, in his Nichols Road home, officer Eric Barnes said.
Burns called 911 at 10:48 a.m. Tuesday and told dispatchers that he had returned home and found two dead women inside his mobile home at 2313 Nichols Road, Barnes said in a previous release.
Investigators said both women had been fatally shot, and both deaths were considered homicides, indicating that the gunshot wounds did not appear to be self-inflicted. The deaths were the city's 42nd and 43rd homicides of 2019, and the fourth in five days.
Officers took Burns in for questioning shortly after arriving at the scene, Barnes said.
Barnes said Wednesday that investigators did not know exactly when the women were shot.
MEMS medics arrived and pronounced Eason and Webb dead, Barnes said. After detectives got a warrant to search the house and crime scene technicians had documented the scene, the women's bodies were sent to the state Crime Laboratory for autopsy.
There were multiple dogs in the mobile home when investigators arrived, and Barnes said officers with Little Rock Animal Services took the dogs to the city's shelter. The detectives also asked the U.S. Marshals Service to help find potential witnesses or people with information about the deaths.
In the arrest report on Burns, officers said witness statements and evidence at the scene led officers to consider Burns a suspect.
The connection between Burns and Eason was designated as "otherwise known" in the police report released Wednesday, but that connection was not disclosed. The report did not list any connection between Burns and Webb.
Eason and Webb lived in North Little Rock, each about a 20-minute drive from Burns' residence, according to the police report.
Nichols Drive is just south of the Interstate 430 and Interstate 630 interchange.
Since 2015, officers have been sent to the street 21 times, and 19 of those calls have been in reference to burglaries, thefts or other larcenies. Two of the calls -- one of which was to the address where Burns lives -- involved a reported aggravated assault.
Burns has no criminal history of violence, according to court records. His only previous encounters with the judicial system have been for traffic violations and child support hearings.
Pulaski County property records show that Burns does not own the land or the mobile home where he lived.
Barnes said there were several vehicles parked around the residence, and investigators had to request search warrants for each one to ensure that there was no evidence inside them.
Pamela McMillan, who lives on Nichols Road, said Wednesday that she did not hear any gunfire early Tuesday morning or Monday night. McMillan said that although there's not often a need for police presence on Nichols Road, she often hears gunfire in the surrounding communities.
McMillan said Burns was the third resident at 2313 Nichols Road in the past few months and that there are often vehicles traveling up and down the dead-end street. One of Burns' neighbors operates a towing company, which McMillan said could explain some of the traffic.
"It's all day, all night back there," she said.
McMillan, who has lived in the area for about two years, said she moved there in part because the area had a low crime rate.
On Wednesday, bundles of crime scene tape were spilling out of the trash bin in front of Burns' residence. A metal gate lay broken in the driveway near several bags of trash and old tires.
"We want it to be a good neighborhood," she said. "We want it to be safe."
Metro on 11/14/2019