HOT SPRINGS -- A man sought by police in connection with a homicide victim whose body was found dumped in Greenwood Cemetery last month was arrested Sunday in Benton.
Jake L. Norwood, 28, was taken into custody around 4:30 p.m. Sunday and charged with felony tampering with evidence, punishable by up to six years in prison. He remained in custody Tuesday without bail, and is scheduled to appear next Tuesday in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Norwood, whose address is listed as Hot Springs National Park, was being sought on a warrant for evidence-tampering in relation to the homicide investigation into Cory D. Richardson's death.
Detectives learned of Norwood after interviewing two witnesses on Oct. 24 who said Norwood told them about cleaning up a car and a body being dumped in the cemetery, according to the affidavit. Later that day the driver of the vehicle, Melissa J. Wineland, 37, was arrested for tampering with evidence, the affidavit said. She pleaded innocent to the charge Oct. 25 in district court.
Wineland told officers she and another suspect had transported the body to the cemetery from her house and that Norwood took the vehicle to a carwash to clean the blood from the back seat, according to the affidavit.
The body of Richardson, 31, of Hot Springs, was found the morning of Oct. 23 on a hillside east of the cemetery's main entrance by a resident who was walking his dog.
Richardson had trauma to his body, including a bullet wound to his upper left buttocks, according to a search warrant affidavit. The other trauma was not specified.
A witness came forward Oct. 23 and told police Wineland had borrowed their car around 11 p.m. Oct. 22 and returned it around 10:30 a.m. the next day, confiding to the witness that she had used it to dump Richardson's body in the cemetery.
The witness told police that Wineland said Richardson came to her house on North Patterson and an "altercation ensued between him and an unknown suspect." As Richardson attempted to flee the residence, Wineland told the witness, he was shot in the buttocks, a detail at that time known only by investigators, the affidavit said.
The document did not state the manner of Richardson's death, or whether it occurred at the North Patterson location.
A large amount of blood was located in the back seat area of the witness's car, the affidavit said.
State Desk on 11/08/2017