Two Paris brothers were charged Friday in Logan County Circuit Court with first-degree murder in the May 13 shooting death of 33-year-old Joseph Stapleton outside his Paris home.
Harry Fremont Bodine Jr., 53, and Brett Allen Bodine, 51, also were charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution, a felony, according to the information that was filed in circuit court.
Circuit Judge Jerry Don Ramey set bail for the two men at $1 million each, court records show. They were being held in the Logan County jail and are scheduled tobe arraigned on the charges Oct. 11.
Sheriff’s investigator Ray Gack wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant that Harry Bodine, who is known as Bodie, admitted shooting Stapleton because he continued to beat Stapleton’s father, Bill Finney, 85, who lived at the same home as Stapleton. Family members told Gack that Finney was in the hospital at the time Stapleton was killed because Stapleton had pushed him down.
Bodie Bodine said his brother Brett Bodine was present during the shooting but did not participate, Gack wrote. However, Bodie Bodine said Brett Bodineburied the semiautomatic seven-shot Kel Tec P32 .32-caliber pistol at a coal dump north of Paris after the shooting. A family member had purchased the gun in Russellville, investigators learned, then later sold it to Bodie Bodine.
Interviewed by investigators, Brett Bodine denied any knowledge of the shooting.
Bodie Bodine said he had warned Stapleton in the past against hurting his father, who Bodine said he’d liked, according to Gack’s affidavit.
Gack’s aff idavit says that the sheriff’s office first learned of Stapleton’s death when Bodie Bodine called to report that he found the body when he went to Stapleton’s home to feed his dogs on the morning of May 14.
Deputies found Stapleton’s body face down in a pool of blood next to a car in the yard. Gack wrote it appearedfrom scratches in the ground around the body that Stapleton may have tried to crawl under the car before he died.
Processing the scene, the deputies found seven spent .32-caliber bullet casings on the ground in a trail leading up to the body, leading Gack to conclude the shooter walked toward Stapleton as he fired.
One neighbor told investigators when questioned he saw a car with two white men driving passed him away from the home as he was driving home from work about 5:30 p.m. May 13, Gack’s affidavit says. The man couldn’t see who the driver was because he had his head down and his hand in front of his face.
In July, investigators were told by family members that Bodie Bodine owned a Kel Tec .32-caiber pistol. Deputies obtained a warrant to search Bodie and Brett Bodine’s home at 400 Arnett St. in Paris.
They searched the homeSept. 3 but didn’t find a gun, according to the affidavit. They found marijuana and a glass pipe.
On Sept. 25, the affidavit says, investigators interviewed Bodie Bodine about a warrant issued against the brothers for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Questioning turned to Stapleton’s murder.
At first, Bodie Bodine denied owning the gun, saying he sold it because he was out of money. But he then admitted he went out to the home to talk to Stapleton about what Stapleton had done to his father.
Stapleton ran out of the house at him like a ‘“raging … bull”’ with a brake drum, the affidavit says. Bodine said he warned Stapleton he had a gun and just wanted to talk, but Stapleton continued to come at him.
He said he then shot Stapleton until the seven-shot gun was empty, Gack’s affidavit says.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 09/28/2013