Ulmer Called Compassionate To Those Hurting, In Need

By Skip Descant

Posted: July 26, 2009 at midnight

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FAYETTEVILLE — In the world of Jill Ulmer, redemption was possible. A person could change.

It may have been this simple — and powerful — belief that pulled Ulmer down a course filled with mistreatment that would eventually leave her dead.

“Jill was compassionate to those who were hurting or in need and was always willing to serve,” said Jimmy Allen, who attended with Ulmer at the Robinson Avenue Church of Christ in Springdale.

Ulmer, 26, was violently slain in her apartment on June 26. Ricky Ray Anderson, 41, is being held in the Washington County Jail on a charge of capital murder. His arraignment is set for Monday.

When police arrived at Ulmer’s apartment about 10:30 that Friday night, Anderson was stabbing Ulmer, according to Fayetteville police reports. Windows were broken and shots were fired into the apartment by police, with one bullet striking Ulmer in the head. Anderson was not hit.

Medical examiners say it’s inconclusive whether Ulmer died from the stab wounds or the gunshot. Complicating matters, Ulmer was pregnant at the time of her death, according to police reports. The fetus was not yet developed enough to warrant a second murder charge.

The lead-up to that homicidal scene at Raspberry Place Apartments where Leverett Avenue dead ends is marked with violence and Ulmer’s seeming resolve to change a man often described as her ex-boyfriend.

“She had been bringing Ricky to church for quite awhile with her and I had visited with him from time to time. It was her desire for him to find out what Jesus was about ... not a bunch of pews or a building, but a relationship with God,” Allen said.

It appears Ulmer and Anderson met sometime after he was released in May 2008 from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, where he was serving a 12-year sentence after being convicted of two counts of armed robbery. According to orders of protection requests Ulmer filed with the Washington County Circuit Clerk, the two lived together from October 2008 until June 4.

“Ricky threatened me with domestic violence on 6/4/2009 and 6/7/2009,” Ulmer wrote in a petition for a protective order she filed June 8. The day before, Anderson went into Ulmer’s two-bedroom apartment and destroyed a high definition television, an iPod, camera, clothing and other items, according to a report by the Fayetteville Police Department.

“They recently broke up, and he was in the process of moving his belongings out,” reads the report. The damages were estimated at $1,650. Anderson was arrested June 10 for criminal mischief.

But that wasn’t the first time Ulmer had filed documents requesting protection from Anderson.

On Feb. 5, Ulmer went to the Washington County Courthouse, where she wrote, “I found evidence that Ricky was smoking crack in the apt. last night.”

Ulmer wrote she confronted Anderson, took photos of the incident and then called his parole officer.

“She (the parole officer) got all my info and I believe she went to go get him,” Ulmer wrote. “Ricky has threatened me with violence before. Said he would beat me so bad I couldn’t call the police and told me he would kill me. I have no doubt that if he found out I called his parole officer, that he would try to kill me.”

On the day before Valentine’s Day, Ulmer dropped the request for an order of protection.

“He didn’t respond to my calling his parole officer like I expected,” she wrote in her Feb. 13 request to dismiss the petition for protection. “He realizes his mistake and chooses to start doing and acting right, and I want to be able to help him by emotional and spiritual help.”

When it comes to dealing with abusive relationships, Ulmer had some previous experience. In 2005, she was granted an order of protection against Michael Ingram. Ingram, 39, of Fayetteville also has a rocky past. He has a string of assault and drug charges going back to 1994. That order of protection was in effect for two years, according to court records.

If there is a pattern of thinking threading its way through this tumultuous saga, it may be a history of service and goodwill motivating her to lift a person from his own despair.

Going back to her years spent at Springdale High School, Ulmer was both a member of the National Honor Society and Choose the Right, an evangelical Christian organization with a large following among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a Girl Scout, Ulmer achieved the Silver Award, the second highest commendation Girl Scouts offers, said Kendall Thornton, director of communications for Girl Scouts in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Randall Harriman, a friend of Ulmer’s, described her as a “great Christian girl.” The two attended church camp together.

After graduating from Springdale High School in 2001, Ulmer went to the University of Arkansas, where she graduated with a degree in history and a minor in African-American studies.

Ulmer seemed interested in the class material and was studious, said Charles F. Robinson in an e-mail. Robinson is an associate professor of history and taught Ulmer in two of his African-American studies courses. He would not comment on her grades.

Members of Ulmer’s family declined to be interviewed. Neither would officials comment at Terminix International — Ulmer’s employer in Fayetteville — beyond saying she was an employee.

How Ulmer and Robinson met is ambiguous. The two may have worked together at Popeyes Chicken on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Fayetteville. When asked, a manager there would not confirm either were ever employed with Popeyes.

Ulmer claimed Anderson was living with her going back to October 2008. Anderson is listed by police as living at 68 Wilson St. in Farmington with Cheryl Barker.

“At the time of his (Anderson) release, he was going to be supported by his spouse,” said Milt Gilliam, administrator for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Parole and Interstate Services. Anderson’s departure to Arkansas was approved Feb. 10 because he and Barker planned to marry, Gilliam said. Neighbors on Wilson Street and parole officials in Oklahoma said Anderson and Barker were engaged. A search of marriage records in more than a half-dozen Arkansas and Oklahoma counties did not produce a license between the two.

“He never was on the lease,” said Steven Lamm, the landlord for the home on Wilson Street. Barker lived in the home for about three months, Lamm added. Neighbors do not seem to know where Barker is today.

Also living at the address was Dontrell Barker, who is believed to be Cheryl Barker’s son. Farmington police were called to the Wilson Street residence three or four times in the past year, said Brian Hubbard, police chief.

The calls were all regarding Dontrell Barker fighting verbally with Cheryl Barker and Anderson, Hubbard said. No one was ever ticketed or arrested, he added.

“We’d do a little counseling, then be on our way,” Hubbard said.

The last call from the Wilson Street home was about three weeks before Ulmer’s death, Hubbard said.

Neighbors also report a crowded scene of all-night parties.

“There was people coming in and out of the house at all hours of the day,” Kevin Stark said.

Other neighbors echoed much the same observances.

“As spring came, there was more activity at the house, and during summer, people were over all the time,” said Richard Swearingen, whose home is across the street.

Back on Leverett Avenue at the Raspberry Place Apartments, a dull-gray complex of 22 units, which rent for about $500 a month, property officials would not comment on when Ulmer moved into her apartment or whose name or names were on the lease.

Today, the windows and doors have been replaced on Apartment 15, Ulmer’s former home. And from the outside there’s little indication of the mayhem those walls contained.

“He told me if he ever saw me again, he’d make it where no one else would ever want me again,” Ulmer disturbingly wrote June 8 in her protective order request. Three days after Ulmer was killed, she and Anderson were to appear in court regarding the matter.

“Petitioner did not appear,” the court document reads.

Dan Craft contributed to this report.

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