Police: Springdale Suspect Cleaned House, Bought Beer After Shooting

Rocha
Rocha

— A man arrested last week in connection with the shooting death of his mother tried to clean blood out of the house, then went on a beer run, according to authorities.

Scott Aaron Rocha, 36, was arrested Friday in connection with felony capital murder and tampering with physical evidence. The body of his mother, Frances Idell Rocha, 65, was found in the garage at 3547 Loblolly Place, according to the preliminary arrest report. The Rochas both lived at the residence.

AT A GLANCE

Penalties For Capital Murder

Arkansas Code 5-4-104

(b) A defendant convicted of capital murder shall be sentenced to death or life imprisonment without parole.

Source: State Of Arkansas

During police questioning, Rocha admitted shooting his mother, and said he intended to kill himself, according to the report. He also admitted he tried to dispose of the body, but couldn't get it in the car. He told officers he walked to a liquor store for more beer after the shooting.

A Swiffer mop soaked in blood was found in the kitchen of the residence, according to police records. It looked as if Rocha attempted to clean up after the shooting, but was unsuccessful, according to the records.

Rocha told police he argued with his mother after she came home and found out he had been drinking all day, according to records. He told officers he was waiving a pistol and it went off accidentally, hitting his mother.

Officers went to the house at 12:48 a.m. Friday after James Allen, a friend of Scott Rocha, reported a possible suicide. Allen told police Rocha called him and threatened to end it all, according to the report. After talking for about an hour, the call ended. Allen told police he called back, Rocha did not answer so he called police.

Officers knocked at the front door, but got no response. Officers looked through a window and saw a pool of blood on a chair, drops of blood on the carpet and a blood trail leading to the kitchen, according to records.

The officers entered the house though an unlocked front door, according to records. Rocha came out of a back bedroom and, when asked, said the blood was his mother's.

The blood trail led to the garage, where Frances Rocha's body was found, face down. Officers removed a towel wrapped around her head and saw a large bullet exit wound in the back of her skull, according to the report.

Scott Rocha told officers he was going to take his mother to the hospital, but realized she was dead. When asked where the gun was, Rocha said he threw it off the White River bridge, according to the report. Officers found a silver revolver and bullets in a back room of the house. Rocha then said he was going to throw the gun off the bridge after he loaded his mother's body in the car.

Two cans of Keystone beer and a half-empty bottle of whiskey was found in the same room as the gun.

Rocha later admitted to a detective he intended to kill his mother, then himself, according to the report.

Rocha is to be arraigned April 11. He was being held Monday in the Washington County Detention Center with no bond.

NW News on 03/11/2014

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