Witnesses told police that a Sherwood man charged in the slaying of a transgender teenager said he was going to kill the victim and later told them the victim was dead, according to a newly obtained arrest report.
Prosecutors formally charged Trevone Hayse Miller, 19, with capital murder in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Friday, records show.
Sherwood police arrested Miller on July 2 after 17-year-old Braylen Stone, a North Little Rock resident who went by the name Brayla, was found dead in a vehicle parked on a walking path near Gap Creek Drive in Sherwood one week earlier.
According to the arrest report, witnesses told investigators that Miller had asked Stone to meet him so they could talk.
Miller, 18 at the time, was the last person to see Stone according to witness interviews, police reported.
Although the arrest report said Miller spoke about killing Stone, apparently before and after the time police say Stone was killed, in the report police did not elaborate on their investigation and witness interviews, nor did they ascribe a motive for the killing.
Miller was taken into custody at his residence in Sherwood, the arrest report said. Since then he has remained in the Pulaski County jail without bail.
If convicted of capital murder, Miller could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The criminal case is scheduled to be tried before Judge Barry Sims.
Stone's slaying attracted attention online in the days after the discovery of her body as people posted the teen's name and image on social media.
A candlelight vigil that paid tribute to Stone at a Little Rock church was attended June 29 by approximately 100 people. Speakers paid special attention to the frequent acts of violence carried out against transgender people, which the American Medical Association last year described as an "epidemic."
The criminal case against Miller marks the second time he has been charged in fatal violence involving teenagers in Sherwood.
In 2016, Miller and two teens were charged in the robbery and fatal shooting of 17-year-old Sylvan Hills High School student Bryan Allen Thompson in the parking lot of a Sherwood recreation center.
As part of a deal in which his initial charge of capital murder was dropped, Miller, who was 14 at the time, agreed to testify against his co-defendants, 15-year-old Quincy Parks and 17-year-old Xavier Terrell Porter.
Parks and Porter eventually pleaded guilty, and Miller's charge of aggravated robbery was transferred to juvenile court.
In May 2019, Miller was arrested again and charged with robbery and second-degree criminal impersonation over an incident at a Walmart parking lot in Little Rock.
Witnesses reported that Miller tried to take a woman's purse and persuade a man to step out of his car, both times claiming to be a security guard or police officer.
Less than a year later, a Sherwood police officer found Miller was carrying a .22 pistol while placing him under arrest on an identity-theft warrant on March 23.
Even though he was on probation at the time because of his involvement in the 2016 killing, Miller, who at this point was 18, was jailed and then released.
In an interview earlier this summer, John Johnson, chief deputy prosecuting attorney for Pulaski County, attributed the absence of a felony firearm charge after Miller's arrest with the gun to the fact that his earlier offense was adjudicated in juvenile court, not state court.