Man pleads innocent to shooting Arkansas man, setting fire to home

Body of shooting victim found inside burned Rudy home

VAN BUREN -- A Crawford County man has pleaded innocent to charges of shooting a man with a shotgun and setting fire to his home to cover it up.

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Jeremy Dwight Brake Sr., 37, was charged Monday with first-degree murder, arson, being a felon in possession of a firearm, first-degree criminal mischief, tampering with physical evidence and endangering the welfare of a minor in the Oct. 10 death of Michael Joel King, 56, at King's home at 11447 Ozark Road in Rudy, about 20 miles northeast of Fort Smith.

Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune also charged Brake on Tuesday with felony with a firearm, under which a person convicted of a felony in which a firearm is used could be sentenced to up to 15 additional years in prison.

According to the prosecuting attorney's office, a public defender was appointed during a brief court hearing Monday to represent Brake. The public defender entered the innocent plea at the hearing.

Brake has been held in the Crawford County jail in lieu of $400,000 bond since his arrest Oct. 12.

An informant told a sheriff's investigator Oct. 11 that he was at King's home in the early hours of Oct. 10 along with King, Brake and Brake's 17-year-old son, Jeremy Brake Jr., an arrest warrant affidavit by Deputy Todd Cowett said.

According to the affidavit, the informant said Jeremy Brake Sr. had taken a sawed-off pump shotgun with him to the house and left it on the porch. The informant said he told Jeremy Brake Sr. to take the gun inside at about 3 a.m. or 4 a.m.

Brake retrieved the gun and began threatening King, according to the affidavit. He leveled it at King several times, lowering it each time, the affidavit said. But the last time Brake leveled the gun, he shot King in the chest, according to the affidavit. A medical examiner found that the shot wad that held the buckshot in the shell had embedded in King's chest along with the buckshot.

The informant said Jeremy Brake Sr. then used a lighter to set fire to a blanket that covered a window and that Brake also poured gasoline around the front door. At that point, Brake, his son and the informant ran into the woods, the informant told the deputy.

A probable cause affidavit by Cowett said Brake's son told an investigator that he was outside when the shooting occurred but entered the house to find King on the floor with the shotgun wound and his father holding the shotgun.

Sheriff's Deputy Eldon Hammer was dispatched to the fire scene about 5:10 a.m. Oct. 10, where he made contact with King's sister and next-door neighbor, Linda King, who said her brother was in the burning house.

Hammer's report said Michael Joel King's roommate, Chadrick Holsted, 30, said he went outside at about 4:30 a.m. to find something for King. Five minutes later, he heard King scream for help, he said. Holsted said he ran toward the house and tried to get in but that the fire and smoke were too intense.

Holsted said he ran next door to Linda King's and Edgar Brandon's home for help. They couldn't enter the house either.

Firefighters from three fire stations had trouble fighting the blaze because several cars surrounding King's home caught fire. Some of the gas tanks and multiple propane tanks around house exploded during the fire.

King's body was found under the debris.

State Desk on 10/19/2016

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