Trial rescheduled for triple slaying
ARKADELPHIA - A trial has been rescheduled for a man charged in the slayings of two young Arkansas girls and their stepfather.
Riakos Lizana was slated to go on trial next week, but his trial is being pushed back until Oct. 22.
Lizana also has a hearing scheduled for Aug. 27.
Authorities arrested Lizana in December in connection with the deaths of 4-year-old Marley Crutchfield, 6-year-old Adiele Crutchfield and the girls’ stepfather, Bobby Jean Galbraith, 40.
Police have said a baby, who was unharmed, was also found at an Arkadelphia home where the bodies of the girls and stepfather were found.
Court records show Lizana faces three capital murder charges and a burglary charge.
His lawyer, Gregg Parrish, said Tuesday that Lizana has pleaded innocent.
A prosecutor didn’t return a phone call Tuesday evening.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
‘Sheen’ assumed natural substance
A “sheen” discovered Wednesday morning on an inlet that feeds into Lake Hamilton had dissipated by early Wednesday afternoon after Garland County officials searched the area for the source.
Bob King, deputy director of the county emergency management office, said a resident who lives in the 400 block of Joy Drive in Hot Springs called in the report to the National Response Center after noticing the sheen on the water. The Garland County Solid Waste Department environmental inspector and sheriff’s office marine patrol took a sample for testing, but King said it didn’t have the characteristics of oil.
“It does not appear to be of a chemical makeup;
it looks like more of a natural substance,” King said.
Earlier in the day, the city of Hot Springs referred to the sheen on the water as an oil spill in a news release. In the statement, Hot Springs Municipal Utilities director Richard Penn said the spill was 6 miles from the city’s water system intake and that customers would not be affected.
King said responders initially thought a homeowner disposing of paint or cleaning supplies in the water had caused the sheen. But after investigating, it appeared to be an algae or some other natural substance stirred up from increased water flows, he said.
“We’re leaning toward it being some kind of naturally occurring substance,” King said.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Startled monkey busts out of cage
CONWAY- An Arkansas veterinary clinic said a 30-pound pet monkey busted out of his steel cage and played with a large orange house cat before he was coaxed back into confinement by a police officer.
An alarm was triggered Tuesday when Joey, a macaque, broke out of the Chestnut Animal Clinic in Conway. Clinic practice manager Zach Shaddox said Joey was apparently disturbed by the loud alarm and threw some pens and pencils around the office.
Joey also played with the clinic’s cat that was lounging on the front counter before heading outside. Shaddox told the Log Cabin Democrat that Joey climbed onto the shoulder of a police officer who was the same build as his owner.
Joey bit the officer’s knuckle, and he was returned to the cage without further incident.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
State hands audit probe over to feds
LEWISVILLE - Federal prosecutors are investigating after a state audit found more than $160,000 missing from the Lafayette County tax collector’s bank account.
Special Prosecutor Ian Vickery said Tuesday that he is handing the case over to the FBI and U.S.
Attorney Conner Eldridge.
Vickery told the Texarkana Gazette that federal investigators are handling the case because “penalties are more significant” than under state law.
Vickery said the U.S.
attorney’s office will likely present the investigation to a grand jury in July or August.
The state audit found that $162,275 was not deposited in the tax collector’s bank accounts from Jan. 1, 2011, to Sept. 20, 2012.
Sheriff Victor Rose, who is married to County Treasurer Keesha Rose, said he and his wife are cooperating with investigators.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fall sentence set for murder suspect
CLINTON, Mo. - One of two men accused in a southwest Missouri teenager’s stabbing death will be sentenced in November after admitting his role in the case.
Christopher Jorgensen, 29, of Ava pleaded guilty last Friday to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the December 2011 death of 17-year-old Kenny Stout of Republic.
Jorgensen was originally charged with first-degree murder. KYTV reported the terms of the plea agreement put possible sentences at a maximum of 20 years for each crime, to run concurrently.
Prosecutors said Jorgensen and another man beat up Stout, left him in the woods, and then went back and stabbed him to death.
Nathan Jensen, 26, of Seymour is charged with first-degree murder and is scheduled for trial in October in Pulaski County.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 06/20/2013