Arkansas: Former prosecutor involved in woman's disappearance???

[hawgustusgloop]

http://www.kfsm.com/Global/story.asp?S=7102285

Lori Ann Murchison has been missing from Fort Smith since 1995, which I have known about for years. What I somehow missed, was the fact that former Sebastian County prosecutor Ron Fields was accused by the FBI of ordering a Fort Smith Police officer to kill her!!!! There apparently was not enough evidence to charge him in her case, but there were very prevalent rumors for years that he was a drug dealer. This guy, Ron Fields, is now also facing allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman with developmental disabilities.

According to the article linked above, the family has had difficulty getting information on the progress of the investigation. To complicate matters, two of the detectives assigned to her case have been put on paid leave and are the subjects of an internal investigation.

[hawgustusgloop]

Article about the rape allegations:
http://www.4029tv.com/news/14118649/...s=fts&psp=news

Interview with the alleged victim's father:
http://www.4029tv.com/news/14145501/...s=fts&psp=news

Article about the appointment of a special prosecutor for the rape allegation investigation:
http://www.kfsm.com/Global/story.asp?S=7088153


I hope these allegations are not true because taking advantage of an adult with the mental capacities of a child is beyond disgusting.

[hawgustusgloop]

Article about Maj. Jeff Barrows and Capt. Steve Howard of the Fort Smith Police Department being placed on paid leave while an internal investigation for "major violations" is conducted:

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/199941/

It doesn't say what the investigation concerns. According to the article I linked in the opening post, these two officers are investigators who were originally assigned to Lori Ann Murchison's case, which obviously makes it even more difficult for her family to get information about its progress.

Another officer placed on administrative leave in connection with that investigation:
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/200126/

[hawgustusgloop]

As it turns out, the wife of Maj. Jeff Barrows (one of the officers being investigated), Velvet Barrows, is a City Director in Fort Smith. Apparently, there were some one-on-one phone calls that took place that could be interpreted as a FOIA violation, since they are not permitted to discuss matters in private that are likely to be brought before the board. She allegedly called other directors asking for an update on the investigation of her husband and requested them to move for a special session to evaluate the current police chief (the one who is ultimately responsible for the investigation of her husband).

http://www.kfsm.com/Global/story.asp?S=7096143

http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2007...ews/news03.txt

What is going on in Fort Smith?

[lorettalockhorn]

To me it doesn't bode well for Murchison's family that the grand jury didn't find anything incriminating when they sat. I have every faith in the abilities of a grand jury. Interesting that the FBI made allegations that weren't convincing. What was their proof?

[lorettalockhorn]

At first blush, it looks as if FSPD and DA were/are taking their sweet time in investigating this alleged crime. Why wasn't the special prosecutor assigned earlier?

I'm a little puzzled that the family wasn't more eager for someone to be brought in from the outside and didn't realize that the two officers that were put on leave were detectives. Did they work on the alleged rape? Or the third officer and will it slow the investigation further?

Amazing that there seems to be so much funny business and/or out and out corruption going on that have figures that are linked. Cannot believe that Ms. Velvet didn't realize that her phone calls would raise eyebrows.

Thanks for posting!

[hawgustusgloop]

The third officer to be placed on suspension has now been fired:

http://www.kfsm.com/Global/story.asp?S=7165020

He has 10 days to appeal the decision.

[hawgustusgloop]

One of the two officers originally put on leave was fired, and the other has been suspended:

http://www.kfsm.com/Global/story.asp?S=7227429

I have no idea why, though.

[FDInLaw]

CRAZY!

I had heard about something going on with the Fort Smith police but I had no real idea. Thanks for posting the links Hawg!

[lorettalockhorn]

Fort Smith police chief suspended:

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/217269/

Do we know why Barrows was ultimately fired?