By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
A mother and her three children were killed when their mobile home exploded in Colt early Saturday morning.
Valerie Elliott, 27, and her children, Christine, 7; Jeffrey, 5 and 18-month-old Jessica, were killed when the residence, located in the Davidson Trailer Park just off Highway 1, blew up about 5:46 a.m. All four died at the scene.
The victim's husband, and the children's' father, Jeff Elliott, was not at home at the time of the explosion, but was spending the night at his mother's residence, according to St. Francis County Sheriff's Department Chief Investigator Glenn Ramsey.
Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the blaze, which at this time is believed to have been caused by a natural gas leak.
"There was an explosion," Ramsey said. "A neighbor that lives across the street told us she was already up when she heard the explosion, looked outside and saw the entire mobile home engulfed in flames."
The Colt Fire Department responded to the fire and extinguished the blaze. Inside the structure, investigators found the bodies of the three children in a bedroom and the mother's body in the hallway near the back door.
Ramsey said family members told police the family had been shopping the night before in preparation for a birthday party that had been set for Saturday. Ramsey said both of the older children had January birthdays.
"We, myself and Arkansas State Police Investigator Dale Arnold, did a cause and origin investigation. The evidence we collected during that has been sent to the State Crime Lab in Little Rock for analysis," Ramsey said.
"It is believed at this point, there is a high probability that the fire was caused by an explosion involving a gas heater in the living room," Ramsey said.
The victims' bodies have also been sent to the Crime Lab for autopsies which are expected to be performed Tuesday.
Morgan Funeral Home in Forrest City will be handling the funeral arrangements. Services are expected to be held later this week.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
St. Francis County jurors on Tuesday will determine the fate of a Memphis man convicted Friday of capital murder in the 1999 deaths of his two toddler sons.
The jury deliberated just over an hour Friday afternoon before finding Alex Ware, 35, guilty in the deaths of his sons, K-Von Harrell, 2, and Xavier Alexander Harrell, 1.
Ware showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. His attorneys polled the jurors, 10 women and two men, on the verdicts, and all 12 jurors answered guilty.
Raymond Abramson, one of Ware's two attorneys, said the defense will ask the jury to consider mitigating factors, such as Ware's mental state, which Abramson said was not normal, before deciding Ware's sentence.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Ware left his two sons in rural St. Francis County in June of 1999, and was arrested on kidnapping charges by the Memphis Police Department in September of that year. In his original statements to both MPD officers and St. Francis County Sheriff's deputies, Ware claimed that he, and his former girlfriend and the children's mother, Chantilly Harrell, had abandoned the children, one in brush near a county road and the other in a pond near Blackfish. Investigators found the skeletal remains of Alexander, but the remains of K-Von have not been found.
During his closing arguments Friday afternoon, defense attorney Jerry Coleman attempted to place reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors a number of times, questioning if a homicide had been committed at all, whether K-Von is actually dead and what Ware's motive to commit the crime would be.
"Did the state prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Alex Ware committed a homicide? They haven't proven that Xavier died by homicide. They haven't proven that K-Von is dead. They couldn't provide a motive as to why he would do this. Why would he, in his first statement to Chantilly during their phone call, say, 'You will never trust me again.'?" Coleman asked jurors.
Coleman also questioned whether Harrell truly believed K-Von is dead. "In her testimony, Chantilly Harrell said that she may not believe K-Von is dead. 'Xavier was 1,' she said. 'K-Von will be 4 on his next birthday.' That's not the testimony of someone who believes that someone is dead.
Prosecuting Attorney Fletcher Long spoke to the jury on how much thought or premeditation was necessary for Ware to commit the acts he was accused of.
"How much thought or deliberation does it take to put a one-year-old child in a car and bring him over here and throw him into the bushes? How much premeditation does it take to then go back and get the second child and throw him into a slough?" Long asked.
Referring to Ware's testimony during the trial, Long said, "You come home and your one-year-old child is unconscious at the foot of the stairs, you do one of two things. You pick up the telephone and call emergency personnel or without thinking you take the child to the nearest hospital. What you don't do is take the child and dispose of it trying to keep yourself or someone else out of trouble. In his mind, he just took the child and put it on the side of the road, this child he loved, no dirt, no nothing," said Long.
By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The City of Colt has applied for a grant to build a new water supply well for the Colt Water System.
According to a press release from the East Arkansas Planning and Development District in Jonesboro, the request has been received for review. The request is for $143,434, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- Rural Development.
Bobby Clarkson, manager of the water system, said there are several reasons why a new well is needed.
"The capacity of (the existing) well is not enough," he said. "We'll be running out of water in a few years. It's 25 years old and was put down for the water system we had at that time. There has been growth, the water table is dropping -- there is any number of reasons. We just need a new well."
He said the new well would be in the area of the existing one. He also said he didn't know how deep the well would have to be drilled. The existing well is 130 feet deep.
Clarkson said if the city doesn't get the grant, it can still apply for a loan.
Several regularly-scheduled meetings are on tap for Tuesday , Jan. 16.
The Forrest City Water Utility's board will meet at 10 a.m. in the water office.
The St. Francis County Museum Board will meet at 5 p.m. at the museum.
The Palestine-Wheatley School board will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Palestine-Wheatley High School library. The only two items listed on the agenda are the renewal of the superintendent's contract and a concerned parent.
The Forrest City City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Listed agenda items include second reading of an ordinance to define purchasing procedures, and second reading of an ordinance to adopt the 2001 budget. Municipal Judge Steve Routon is also on the agenda to discuss 2001 pay rates.