RUSSELLVILLE --The bound bodies of three slaying victims were pulled from a bayou near here Saturday as police sought leads in the killings and to a missing load of guns.
State police tentatively identified the victims as William Mueller, 53, his wife, Nancy, 28, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah. But Pope County Sheriff Jay Winters said he wasn't prepared to identify the victims.
The bodies were recovered from the Illinois Bayou, about a mile north of Russellville in Pope County, said state police spokesman Wayne Jordan. Partially decomposed, they were taken to the state Crime Laboratory for positive identification. Winters said authorities don't have any suspects.
The three bodies were found in 20-foot-deep water just north of a bridge. The area is secluded but not far from Arkansas 7, about a mile north of Interstate 40.
The Muellers lived in Tilly in Searcy County, about 38 miles northeast of Russellville. They disappeared in January. Jordan tentatively identified them Saturday from clothing and other items on the bodies, and information from the Mueller family doctor about identifying marks on Nancy Mueller. Jordan's identification of the bodies was also based on their sex and apparent ages, plus the fact that the Muellers' vehicle was found in the region, he said.
Plastic bags bound with duct tape covered their heads, and the hands and feet of both adults were in handcuffs, Jordan said. He said the child's head also was covered with a plastic bag, but she was not handcuffed.
Jordan said police found the family's white Jeep Cherokee abandoned in February on a road about 17 miles north of Dover. He said they were reported missing before the vehicle was discovered. Relatives in Witts Springs reported them missing after realizing they never arrived at a gun show in Springdale, where they were headed.
Mary Ballard, Nancy Mueller's aunt, said the family left its Tilly home Jan. 5. She said William Mueller was a licensed gun dealer who was hauling a trailerload of guns to the Northwest Arkansas show. He also planned to attend a gun show in Little Rock afterward.
"They never made it to that show and the police found their Jeep, but the guns were missing," Ballard said. She also said that Mueller worked at a Russellville Wal-Mart store.
The Pope County sheriff's office impounded the Jeep and trailer. Nancy Mueller's purse was the only thing in the vehicle, police said. Nancy Mueller's brother, David Branch, lives in Dover.
State police are unsure how long the bodies had been in the bayou. The level of decomposition suggests they had been there for a while, Jordan said. Winters said he believes the bodies were in the water for more than a month.
Police are speculating that Mueller may have been acquainted with a suspect wanted by Missouri authorities, Timothy Coombs. Coombs is accused of shooting a Missouri police officer in the officer's home in 1994. Searcy County Sheriff Kent Griggs said Mueller and Coombs were both members of an anti-government group.
"It's my understanding that they did know each other," Griggs said Saturday afternoon.
Griggs said he hasn't seen Coombs, also known as Jim Wilson, in the area for some time.
Missouri authorities are seeking Coombs on a warrant charging him with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the Sept. 16, 1994, shooting of a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper. Investigators said Coombs apparently shot trooper Bob Harper in retaliation for Harper's arrest of Robert Joos Jr., a Nazarite minister who heads a fringe religious group.
McDonald County, Mo., Sheriff Don Schlessman said he met with Pope County and Arkansas State Police investigators in late February or early March after the Muellers' Jeep and trailer had been discovered. Harper was shot in McDonald County.
In Searcy County, Coombs' troubles began with a 1991 arrest for driving without a license. Coombs, then primarily known as Wilson, was a member of the United Kingdom of God Embassy, Yahweh's Ministries, in Tilly. He contended that the state law requiring a driver's license violated his religious beliefs.
Dr. Denise Hollabaugh, Nancy Mueller's physician and a family friend, also said Saturday that Coombs and Mueller knew each other.
"There were some shady deals going on," she said. "I knew Nancy had just gotten out of this cult; Bill worked repairing air conditioners, and that once he started dealing in guns they were doing a lot better."
Hollabaugh said the "cult" Nancy Mueller belonged to was family-founded and mirrored the beliefs held by the Freemen in Montana.
"They didn't want much to do with the government," she said. "They were all hard-working people. But when the grandfather couldn't make ends meet one year, he fell behind on his taxes and the state tried to take his land. The family retreated, pooled all of their money and stayed on the property."
The bodies were found after a fisherman reported about 7:20 p.m. Friday that he discovered what he believed to be a human leg in the bayou, Winters said. Winters said that body turned out to be a female's.
On Saturday authorities dragged the bayou and found the body of a male and another female. The last body was removed by 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
The search proved difficult because of remnants of an old metal bridge and other debris along the bayou's bottom, Winters said.
"The water is too muddy to do a good dive search," Winters said, adding that left the alternative of dragging the bayou.
Although the bodies were not intact, Pope County Prosecuting Attorney Tom Kennedy said: "We don't think there was any dismemberment."
Kennedy said he doesn't believe the three people were slain near the bridge over the bayou.
"We don't believe that was the murder site," Kennedy said. "That was the dumping site."
Winters also said he believes the bodies were dumped. The debris in the bayou would have prevented a lot of movement, he said.
Kennedy and Winters declined to say whether the bodies were weighted down. Although the state police identified the bodies as those of the Muellers, Winters and Kennedy were not as certain Saturday. The state police reported sightings of the family after the Jeep and the trailer were discovered in February, state police said at the time.
Lynn Kilburn, who owns a grocery store not far from the bayou, said a fisherman came to his father's house and told William Kilburn to call authorities because, "We found a body while we were fishing."
Besides the sheriff's office, the Russellville Police Department, the Pope County Office of Emergency Services, the 7th Judicial District Drug Task Force and the Pope County sheriff's reserves were involved in the search.
Information for this article was contributed by staff writer Jim Brooks.