Man arrested in ’09 slaying

WEST MEMPHIS - Police arrested a West Memphis man Wednesday in the 2009 shooting death of a teenager in his driveway, Chief Donald Oakes said Thursday.

Jessie James Washington, 25, will be charged with capital murder this morning in West Memphis District Court. Washington was held in the Crittenden County jail in Marion without bail.

He also faces a felony probation violation in Crittenden County Circuit Court.

Oakes said Washington was considered a suspect early in the investigation of the July 16, 2009, slaying of Arthur Gregory, 18, but police did not have enough evidence to make an arrest.

According to a police report, Gregory and his girlfriend drove into the driveway of his parents’ home on Cornell Street in southwest West Memphis when a man walked to Gregory’s car, showed a handgun, demanded money and then shot Gregory several times. Gregory died at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis.

Oakes credited the work of detective Lt. Troy Galtelli for five years of working the case.

“He didn’t give up,” Oakes said. “Anytime something happened in that neighborhood, he’d ask about this case. He finally found someone who could tell us what happened. It was his good determination that got us to this point.

“We still have a way to go in court, but this gives the family some sense of closure,” Oakes said. “They are finally able to say we’ve got someone responsible for what happened.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 03/21/2014

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