FORT SMITH -- A Sebastian County man accused of killing his girlfriend by running her over several times with his pickup is scheduled to go to trial May 12.
Aaron Cutsinger, 25, of Hartford is charged in Sebastian County Circuit Court with first-degree murder in the death of 23-year-old Leanora Rippy of Boles, in Scott County, and with attempted first-degree murder in the injuring of her son Slayde Carey, who was 2 at the time.
Circuit Judge James O. Cox will preside over the jury trial to be held in Greenwood.
Cutsinger has been held in the county jail in lieu of $200,000 bond since his arrest Sept. 20.
According to an affidavit, Cutsinger admitted to sheriff's investigators he ran over Rippy several times with his pickup.
An acquaintance of Rippy told investigators Cutsinger was angry with Rippy because she wouldn't allow him to adopt Slayde and had made threats against her, an arrest warrant affidavit said.
Rippy's death came to light early Sept. 20 when Slayde was spotted, bruised and naked, walking on Sugar Loaf Mountain Road in a forested and remote area of south Sebastian County.
Hartford Fire Department personnel searched the area and found Rippy's body lying face down in the middle of Forest Tower Way. According to the affidavit, it appeared to sheriff's deputies she had been run over and the vehicle left the road and ran into a sapling.
Her skull, jaw, collar bone and ribs were fractured, according to an Arkansas Medical Examiner autopsy report, and her body was heavily bruised and organs were damaged.
Investigators said they believe Rippy was holding her son at the time she was run over and shielded him with her body.
Deputies went to Cutsinger's home in Hartford where they found chrome stripping and a fender well missing from his pickup. Investigators found those parts where Rippy's body was found.
NW News on 02/11/2016