A Fayetteville man became Little Rock’s fourth homicide victim this week after he and an acquaintance were kidnapped from a gas station at gunpoint early Friday, the acquaintance told police.

A woman called police about 5 a.m. and said she heard gunshots and had seen a man’s body in the street near the corner of Woodrow and 11th streets in Little Rock, a police report said.

The man has been identified as Forrest Abrams, 18, of Fayetteville. Abrams’ parents live in Little Rock, police spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis said.

Shortly after officers arrived at the site where the body was found, a call came in from a few blocks away at Fourth and Woodrow streets, where a man reported that he had just been robbed.

Tyler Hodges, 22, told police that three men had taken him and Abrams at gunpoint from the E-Z Mart gas station at 12th and Woodrow, the police report said.

Hodges told police that he hadn’t known Abrams very long, Davis said.

The three men got into Abrams’ vehicle with Abrams and Hodges, then drove to a house at Fourth and Woodrow, where Hodges went inside, the report said. Davis said she did not know whether the home Hodges went into was his home, which is near Woodrow and Booker streets and about four houses away from the intersection where he reported the robbery.

“What we’ve been told by Mr. Hodges is that they went to an address at Fourth and Woodrow,” Davis said. “Why he went to that address and what relationship anyone atthat address has to him, I don’t know. And I don’t know the address.”

Hodges told police that some time went by and that the three men suddenly left with Abrams in the vehicle, the report said.

Residents at one house on the corner said they were up until 2:30 a.m. Friday and no one arrived at their home. The corner house across the street is vacant, the residents said.

The police report lists a wallet and iPhone stolen in addition to the vehicle, but does not say whether the items belonged to Abrams or Hodges.

Hodges told police that he called 911 right after the men drove away and that he lastsaw the men in Abrams’ small red sport utility vehicle, Davis and the report said.

However, Hodges’ timeline of the events doesn’t line up with what the clerk at E-Z Mart told police, Davis said.

“The E-Z Mart guy said that he remembers the two [victims], he remembers the three [men], he remembers them in the parking lot, but he remembers it earlier in the morning - around 1 o’clock. They did not appear to be arguing, only talking” Davis said. “[Police] got our call at 5:10 [a.m.]”

When approached at his home Friday morning, Hodges declined to comment on the events.

At about 9 a.m., policefound Abrams’ vehicle parked under a tree on Abigail Street outside a house at 4224 Charles Bussey Ave., about 1.4 miles from where Abrams’ body was found.

Robert Abernathy, 30, lives at that house with his wife. He said he doesn’t know when the vehicle was parked there and didn’t know it was there until police notified him Friday morning.

“This was unexpected. It’s kind of scary to wake up and be in the middle of a scene like that,” he said.

The front portion of his home and the intersection of Charles Bussey Avenue and Abigail Street was taped off by police. Abernathy said crimescene investigators found a small suitcase in Abernathy’s trash can and a trail of items behind the vehicle that he thinks may have been clothes, he said.

Davis said she had not heard those details and could not confirm whether police had found anything, she said.

As the vehicle was towed away, a broken window on the back left corner could be seen, and the vehicle’s front left bumper had some damage. Davis could not say whether the damage was there before the vehicle was taken. A blue plaid shirt fluttered from the back of the vehicle.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 05/11/2013