BENTONVILLE — A 911 call came in at 4:53 a.m. Sept. 26, 1999. A Sunday. A naked and unconscious 13-yearold boy was in an apartment in Rogers. A 911 call at 2:10 p.m. Sept. 26, 1999. The same Sunday. A 37-year-old father of three had been fatally shot with a crossbow by one of his teenage sons just before the family's Sunday meal.
Two separate crimes, both shocking to the community.
"We were overwhelmed," former Benton County Deputy Prosecutor Chris Plumlee said of the day a decade ago. "We didn't have many murders in a year, so to have two on one day was very strange."
An unusual death scene
Rogers police responded to the early-morning 911 call at 1207 W. Sunset Drive in Rogers, where Davis Don Carpenter and Joshua Brown shared an apartment. Officers found the 13-yearold - Jesse Dirkhising - in the middle of a bedroom next to a mattress on the floor. Dirkhising's mouth was blue. He was unresponsive. He had duct tape wrapped around his right hand. An empty prescription bottle was next to him. The teen was later pronounced dead at St. Mary's Hospital in Rogers.
An autopsy determined three factors contributed to Dirkhising's death - positional asphyxiation, suffocation and acute amitriptyline intoxication.
Police initially handled the case as an accidental or unusual death, said Lt. Hayes Minor, then a sergeant in the Criminal Investigation Division.
"Based on the information we had at that time, it was a long way from rape and capital murder," Minor said. "It was hours into the investigation before we learned what we were actually dealing with."
Police began learning the horrible details while questioning Brown. Dirkhising had been bound and drugged. Then repeatedly raped. With different objects. The graphic descriptions were shocking even to police officers who regularly deal with bizarre sexual crimes. At trial, details would bring jurors to tears.
For Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Van Stone, who was a deputy prosecutor at the time, the Dirkhising case was the first major homicide he was involved in. He was assigned to go to the Rogers Police Department and assist police. He also went with police when they searched the apartment.
"I imagine for anybody - the police officers - that it is one of those cases that's easily recalled," Stone said.
While in Rogers, Stone learned there had been a murder in Bentonville.
Plumlee was assigned to assist Bentonville police in their investigation.
'Nice quiet neighborhood' rocked
Justin Trammell, 15, had shot and killed his father, Mike, with a crossbow. The teen had also tried to kill his mother. He fled the scene in his parents' vehicle.
Plumlee went to the Trammell home at 304 S.W. Fourth St. Police had already secured the scene.
"I remember driving through Bentonville, and (there was) not a car on the roads, and then coming to this nice, quiet neighborhood," Plumlee said. "It was a quiet street not far from the Square where this terrible crime occurred. I still remember thinking, 'What a terrible tragedy.'"
Plumlee walked through the Trammell home with police.
"It was a real sad situation," Plumlee said. "One of the saddest parts is that Sunday dinner was still on the table."
Later that day, Trammell was apprehended in Missouri.
Bentonville Police Chief James Allen, who went to the crime scene, said he still cannot comment on the case because Trammell was a juvenile at the time.
Trammell's case files remain closed records.
The cases take shape
Brown and Carpenter were arrested for rape and capital murder. Prosecutors sought the death penalty for the men.
The Prairie Grove teen had been spending weekends with Carpenter and Brown. Carpenter - who was a friend of Dirkhising's stepfather - had given the teen a job sweeping up at the hair salon where Carpenter worked.
Trammell was charged with capital murder. The Benton County prosecuting attorney at the time, Brad Butler, decided to charge Trammell under the Extended Juvenile Adjudication Act.
Butler resigned from office before both cases were resolved.
Gov. Mike Huckabee appointed Robin Green to replace Butler.
She was the prosecutor when Trammell pleaded guilty to murder in the first degree.
At a June 2000 hearing, Green read the court a list of facts describing the day of Mike Trammell's death. Justin Trammell had planned to run away from home by stealing his parents' Jeep Cherokee. He loaded the crossbow to force his parents to back off if they attempted to stop him. When he saw his father walking through the dining area of the house, Justin thought his father would prevent him from running away, Green read to the court.
His father saw his son with the loaded crossbow aimed toward him and told his son not to fire the crossbow, Green continued to read. Justin pulled the trigger. The shot hit his father . The mortally wounded man urged the rest of the family to get out of the house and call 911, Green read.
Justin Trammell's mother, Cindy, grabbed a mobile phone and attempted to get out of the house. Justin threw a knife at her, Green read.
Cindy ran out of the house. Justin followed with a second knife and took the phone from her, preventing her from calling 911. His mother then fell to the ground, Green read. Trammell stood over his mother with his arm raised, holding the second knife over her, Green read.
"The defendant asked his mother, 'If you are such a good Christian, then why are you so afraid of dying?'" Green read, quoting Justin.
The boy's guilty plea placed him in custody of the Division of Youth Services.
For Brown and Carpenter, a judge ordered that the pair be tried separately.
Carpenter and Brown turned down requests for interviews for this story.
In March 2001, Brown's case went to trial. He was represented by Charles Duell and Louis Lim, who then worked as deputy public defenders.
"The case is a complete and utter tragedy," Lim said. "I don't feel any better about the case now than when it was tried."
Lim is grateful that jurors found Brown guilty of first-degree murder and not of capital murder, which spared Brown from a possible death sentence.
Throughout the trial Brown sat and stared downward and never made eye contact with jurors. "It was not an act seeking sympathy, but Brown's shame," Lim said.
Bob Balfe was prosecuting attorney; Plumlee and Stone assisted.
A jury found Brown guilty of rape and first-degree murder, but the panel could not reach a sentencing recommendation on the murder conviction. Circuit Judge David Clinger sentenced Brown to life in prison.
Carpenter did not commit a physical act against the teen, but prosecutors had evidence that Carpenter went to the store and purchased items used to rape the teen. Prosecutors also had notes written by Carpenter with instructions to Brown on how to rape the teen.
Police also found writings, which Carpenter claims were fantasies. One story described the rape of a young blond girl, which perfectly fit the description of a child who lived near Brown and Carpenter.
Testimony during Brown's trial revealed he once had a conversation with the child.
A few weeks later, Carpenter pleaded guilty to rape and capital murder. He received a life sentence.
"It was the most horrific and graphic case I ever dealt with," Balfe said. "It was such a difficult job of presenting such horrendous evidence, and we were concerned that it would have a numbing affect on the jury."
The case was tried in what Balfe described as a "media circus." The case was fodder for local media but had also gained the attention of Fox News, which sent a reporter to cover the trial. ABC News broadcast a segment on the case after Brown's trial.
Members of Westboro Baptist Church from Kansas, infamous for protesting the funerals of military servicemen, protested during the trial.
"The case was used by a lot of people for different political purposes, and lost in the shuffle was the horrific death of a young boy," Balfe said. "Our focus was on the evidence and remembering the victim."
Trammell gets second chance
Although Brown and Carpenter received life sentences, Trammell's case was not over.
Because he was tried under the blended sentencing law, Circuit Judge Jay Finch had to decide whether Trammell would be sentenced as a juvenile or an adult.
Finch ruled that Trammell should be sentenced as a juvenile. At age 18, he was released from the Division of Youth Services on juvenile probation.
In June 2004, police arrested Trammell outside a Fayetteville nightclub for having a fake ID and for public intoxication. Finch revoked Trammell's probation and returned him to the custody of the Division of Youth Services.
When Trammell turned 21, he was released from custody, no longer under the jurisdiction of any court.
Today, Trammell awaits trial on a drug charge: Bentonville police found marijuana plants in his apartment.
Chad Atwell, who is Trammell's attorney in the drug case, turned down an interview request for his client. Atwell may file a motion for change of venue for the drug case because of the publicity Trammell received in the murder case.
A decade of memories
Ten years later, that Sunday causes painful memories for everyone involved.
Balfe said he not only still thinks of the Dirkhising case, but also the other murder cases he prosecuted.
Minor, too, thinks about that day a decade ago.
"I remember thinking about two unusual and significant murder cases hours apart," Minor said. "It's surprising that something like that could happen here on the same day."
News, Pages 1, 10 on 09/27/2009