Couple shot dead in LR residence

The Little Rock couple found slain in their home late Monday morning likely knew their killer, police said.

Bobby Broadway Jr., 40, and Natasha Avery, 32, were found dead in their 1513 W. 33rd St. home at 11:04 a.m. by a group of friends who went to check on Broadway after the man didn’t return phone calls.

According to police, Broadway and Avery were last seen about midnight Saturday, after they had friends over to watch the Floyd Mayweather-Robert Guerrero boxing match.

After not hearing from him throughout Sunday, some of Broadway’s friends went to check on him. They found the house’s east side door left open, police reports said, and then found their friend and Avery shot dead in separate rooms, Little Rock Police Department spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis said.

There were no signs of struggle in the residence, Davis said, nor was there any evidence of forced entry, which Davis said means it’s “probable” that the victims knew who shot them.

Police reports said there were several pitbulls found in the house and that they were turned over to the city’s Animal Services Division.

Davis said police received no reports or calls of shots fired in the couple’s neighborhood in the interval between Saturday night’s boxing match and the discovery of the bodies.

Officers taped off the strip of West 33rd Street between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Bishop Street, and scores of neighbors, friends and family took up posts along the periphery, eyeing the cadre of detectives coming in and out of the crime scene.

A young woman wearing pink dropped in the middle of the intersection, screaming for “my baby,” and had to be pulled up by officers and friends. Minutes later, she was dry-heaving on the side of the street with tears in her eyes.

Another woman with short hair, a striped dress and a blazer collapsed into the shoulder of a middle-aged woman who said she was Broadway’s aunt.

“Who did this to my cuz’?” she screamed into the older woman’s shoulder.

“The streets talk. The streets will fg talk,” the older woman said, half consoling, half enraged. “Son of a b* going to get it.”

Broadway was a parolee under the supervision of the state’s Department of Community Corrections, said department spokesman Rhonda Sharpe.

He was released from prison in August 2010 after a drug conviction and was placed on supervised parole until September 2015.

Broadway had a criminal history dating back to 1995, when he was first booked in at the Pulaski County jail for one count of criminal contempt of loitering. He has been booked in at the Pulaski County jail 30 times since then, jail records show.

In February 2005, Broadway was arrested at 7515 Base Line Road and charged with felony possession of marijuana with intent, felony possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a defaced firearm and simultaneous possession of a firearm and drugs.

He negotiated a guilty plea and was sentenced to six years in prison, court records said, and served 13 months of it between February 2006 and 2007.

Before going to prison, he was arrested again by Little Rock police at 7515 Geyer Springs Road and found with 43 grams of suspected marijuana and charged with possession of marijuana with intent, felony possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal trespass.

After an August 2008 arrest, Broadway negotiated a guilty plea to three other drug crimes. He went back to prison for a five-year sentence and was released on Aug. 24, 2010.

Avery had no criminal history entered in the state courts’ database.

Davis said it was still too early to tell if Broadway and Avery’s killing was drug- or gang-related.

“We are aware of his history,” Davis said. “It’s possible his criminal history may have played a role, but we’ll be investigating that.”

The couple’s slaying marks the eighth and ninth homicides in Little Rock this year, a significant drop from the 15 homicides at this point last year.

This is the first double-homicide since July 2012, when two married ministers, Bobby and Annette Whitlow, both 65, were found dead inside their 2820 Zion St. home.

Their son, Antonio Whitlow, was later arrested and charged in their killing. He was found mentally ill and unfit for trial in late February and committed to the State Hospital.