The last man seen entering Joseph Buchanan's North Little Rock apartment Feb. 6 left behind a gruesome scene, including the bloody knife used to stab Buchanan five times, according to an affidavit read Thursday during the first court appearance for the man changed in the slaying.
Gary Anthony Smith, 60, was denied bail Thursday after he pleaded innocent to first-degree murder after his arrest Tuesday.
Buchanan, 55, was last seen Feb. 6 drinking with a group of friends that included Smith, according to witness statements described in the affidavit. During the afternoon, Buchanan and Smith got in a fight that resulted in injuries to Smith's face, friends told police.
Security footage from that night shows Smith leaving Buchanan's Jefferson Manor apartment, pacing and returning around 9:12 p.m. and leaving for good at 9:58 p.m., according to the affidavit.
A red shirt, blood-stained green shoes, socks and the bloody kitchen knife were found along with Buchanan's body when police searched the home Feb. 12 after responding to a report of a dead body, the affidavit said.
The affidavit states Smith had a pair of black shoes smeared with blood in his car, which also had blood stains in the driver's side door. While being interviewed, he asked police if he was being questioned about cutting Buchanan's throat — without having been told the details of the slaying, according to the affidavit.
Smith denied killing Buchanan to police and said he was not sure how his clothing got into Buchanan's apartment. He told police that Buchanan beat him up and that he left his apartment with a pair of black shoes but denied that they belonged to the victim, the affidavit states.
Smith, a veteran, has no ties to the North Little Rock area other than a 2014 arrest and conviction for terroristic threatening, a prosecutor said during Thursday's hearing.
Smith also has a criminal record with arrests in Texas, Alabama and Mississippi for drunken driving, drug possession, escape and other charges, the prosecutor said.
Smith appeared along with an attorney by video from the Pulaski County jail. He replied to Judge Jim Hamilton's question on his condition with "I'm well sir, how're you?"
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.