Confessed to killing 90-year-old Arkansas woman to save wife, child, accused testifies

Richard Jordan Tarver
Richard Jordan Tarver

JONESBORO -- To protect his wife from going to jail, Richard Jordan Tarver concocted a confession that he killed a 90-year-old Craighead County woman July 3, 2015, Tarver testified Wednesday in his capital murder trial.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Tarver, 31, said he told investigators details about the slaying of Lavinda Counce of Bay that he gleaned from reading a local newspaper and from television news after he was arrested.

"If I didn't, [investigators] told me they'd take my daughter and send my wife to jail," Tarver said of his confession.

Prosecutors played the 59-minute video of Tarver's confession in Craighead County Circuit Court on Tuesday. In it, Tarver gave Craighead County sheriff's investigators Justin Rolland and Aaron Davis specific information about the abduction of Counce from her home in Bay the morning of July 3, 2015, and about driving her to a cornfield where he shot her in the head.

Police said Tarver put Counce in the back of her car and drove to the cornfield west of Bay. He shot her with a .38-caliber handgun and then drove to the NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro where he left her car.

Prosecutors contend that Tarver then walked to the home of a friend who lived behind the hospital and asked for a ride back to Bay, saying he had been dropped off at the hospital to visit someone.

Authorities found Counce's body July 12, and Tarver was arrested July 17.

Tarver took the stand in his defense Wednesday afternoon and said he made up the confession because he feared that his wife would go to jail and his daughter would be taken away from them.

"I told them that because of my wife," Tarver said, "She's not been separated from our daughter since day one. That could not be more hurtful. I knew I was going to jail. I didn't want her to be in the same position."

Second Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington challenged Tarver on cross-examination Wednesday afternoon, asking him how he knew specific details of the crime if he had only "made up" the confession.

Some of the details, Ellington said, included the police finding Counce's purse in the trunk of her car, the removal of a battery from Counce's cellphone, the discovery of Counce's walking cane beneath her body in the cornfield and the fact that Counce was shot once in the back of her head.

Tarver said Rolland told him some of the details during a five-minute interview in a police vehicle when Tarver was arrested.

In the confession that jurors saw Tuesday, Tarver said he killed Counce because he watched the television program The Walking Dead and wanted to see what it would be like to kill someone.

Tarver said Wednesday that he did not kill Counce and the reference to the zombie television series was "something that I came up with."

"I didn't think they'd take this as serious as they did," Tarver said. "I didn't think it'd go as far as it did.

"I wasn't thinking about the Counce family. I was thinking of my own family."

Ellington scoffed.

"That's the most truthful thing you've said," he said.

Earlier Wednesday, Tarver's wife, Samantha Tarver, testified that her husband stayed with her all day July 3, helping her prepare for their 9-year-old daughter's July 5 birthday party and mowing part of their yard.

She said the two stayed up late the night before because their 7-month-old daughter was teething. She said they slept until about 11 a.m. July 3 before Tarver woke up and mowed the yard. She said Tarver left at one point to buy cat food at a Wal-Mart store in Trumann but returned shortly after.

"He couldn't hurt a flea," she said when Tarver's attorney, Randel Miller of Jonesboro, asked if she thought her husband killed Counce.

Tarver testified that Rolland conspired with the friend who said he gave Tarver a ride back to his home July 3 to frame Tarver for the slaying.

"I told them I did it, but that wasn't good enough," Tarver said.

"You'd give up your life for your wife and child?" Miller asked him.

"Yes, I would," Tarver replied.

"I considered [Rolland] a monster for what he did," Tarver said. "I wanted him away from my wife. I'd say anything. I said what I had to."

After Tarver's testimony concluded Wednesday evening, the defense rested.

Court will resume at 9:30 a.m. today in Jonesboro.

State Desk on 10/06/2016

Upcoming Events