The state/region in brief

Woman crossing road struck, killed

SMACKOVER - Arkansas State Police said a Smackover woman is dead after she was struck while walking across a highway in Union County.

State police said the deadly collision happened Monday night on Arkansas 7. A preliminary report said 51-year-old Melinda K. Taylor was crossing the highway when she was struck by a Toyota Camry.

Authorities said Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene. The two people in the Camry weren’t injured.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Teen sees murder

case dismissed

BLYTHEVILLE - A judge has dropped charges against a Blytheville teenager accused in the fatal shooting of a 65-year-old man.

Mississippi County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Curtis Walker said the charges against the teen were dismissed Monday because of lack of evidence.

The youth, now 18, was 17 at the time of the April shooting of Raymond Warren, who was found dead on his front porch.

Walker said there was no doubt that the teen was at the scene when Warren was slain - but there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that the teen killed Warren.

The teen’s attorney, John Bradley, told The Jonesboro Sun that his client did not kill Warren and he’s pleased prosecutors dropped charges.

The case had been set to go to trial this week.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFire suspect gets mental evaluation

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.

  • A man suspected of setting fire to two Springfield houses is at a hospital to receive a mental-health evaluation.

The man, in his 20s, was taken into custody Monday after fires at two homes about 10 blocks apart.

Firefighters rescued a woman and her dogs from one of the homes. Assistant Fire Chief Randy Villines said the woman was rescued with only minutes to spare.

About an hour after that rescue, firefighters were called to the second house.

No one was in that home.

The Springfield News-Leader reported fire officials said the suspect is related to the woman who was rescued but did not specify the relationship.

Villines said both fires were extinguished before the homes were destroyed.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Killer on lam after Oklahoma escape

STRINGTOWN, Okla. - Authorities are searching for a convicted killer who escaped a prison in eastern Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections said 29-year-old Jason Bales was last seen about 7:15 a.m. Monday at the Mack Alford Correctional Facility in Stringtown where he was serving life without parole for the 2006 killing of his girlfriend’s mother, Stepheny Glass. Authorities said Glass was strangled before her body was dousedwith acid and buried in a shallow grave in southwest Oklahoma City.

Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said Tuesday that investigators are not certain how Bales escaped, but said the fence around the prison was not cut and there was no blood on the razor wire to indicate Bales had climbed over the fence.

The department said Bales is considered armed and dangerous.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Head-on crash leaves 2 dead

MARSHALL, Mo. - The Missouri State Highway Patrol said two Saline County residents were killed in a head-on collision in a rural part of the county.

The Marshall Democrat-News reported Sherry Hess, 60, of Slater and Jeremy Rader, 20, collided shortly before 8 a.m. Monday on Missouri 240, about a mile south of Route P.

The Highway Patrol said Hess was westbound in a 2004 Jeep when she crossed the centerline and collided with a 1993 Jeep driven by Rader.

Hess was pronounced dead at the scene, while Rader died at a hospital about an hour after the crash.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPolice make arrest in ’11 crash death

TULSA - Police in Tulsa have arrested a man in the 2011 death of an 11-year-old skateboarder killed when he was hit by a vehicle.

Court records showed Monday that Abraham Mc-David, 31, is charged with first-degree vehicular manslaughter.

The Tulsa World reports that Adrian Hardridge Jr.

died at a hospital from injuries he suffered when he was hit by a car on the night of Oct. 29, 2011,

Police said McDavid was picked up Sunday and that he’s also charged with driving with a suspended license.

McDavid was still being held Monday in lieu of $15,000 bond, plus court costs from another case.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Man found slain,

wife is charged

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. - A 55-year-old Harrisonville woman has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting death of her estranged husband.

Prosecutors said Billie Campbell shot Eldon “Rocky” Campbell Jr., 60, on Thursday outside a camper trailer at their fireprotection business in Harrisonville.

Electronic court records show Billie Campbell filed for divorce in April and the couple had been granted protection orders against each other.

A probable-cause statement said Billie Campbell was found passed out in a Cadillac Escalade later Thursday night suffering from a possible overdose of alcohol and prescription medication.

It was unclear from electronic court records if she had obtained an attorney. A phone call left with a lawyer who had represented her in the past wasn’t immediately returned.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 12/05/2012

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