BENTONVILLE -- Prosecutors charged a Bentonville woman with capital murder in connection with the killing of her grandmother.
Andrea Lea Wilson, 26, is was also charged Thursday with tampering with evidence.
She accused of acting with premeditation and deliberation in purposefully killing 81-year-old Ruby Ross.
Ross was found dead May 16 in her Pea Ridge home. Wilson is accused of hitting her grandmother at least four times in the head with a hammer, according to court documents.
Wilson could be sentenced to life imprisonment without the benefit of parole or the death penalty if she's convicted of capital murder. Prosecutors have not announced if they will seek the death penalty.
She could also be sentenced to up to six years in prison if convicted of the tampering charge.
Detectives with the Benton County Sheriff 's Office found a bloody hammer with white hair in an outhouse behind Ross' house, according to court documents. The hammer was in a black plastic trash bag that also contained rubber gloves with blood on them, a large butcher-type knife and bank statements with Andrea Wilson's name on them, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
Leann Ross said she went to her mother's home May 16 and found Ruby Ross in bed with blood splatter on the headboard. Leann Ross said her niece was at her mother's home May 16 and may have been the last person to see her alive, according to the police report.
Detectives seized items from Wilson after her May 21 arrest, including her purse, which appeared to have blood on it, according to the affidavit. Blood was found on the exterior door leading to Wilson's apartment at 7804 SW Blue Jay, Apt. 22, according to court documents.
Detectives also found possible blood in her vehicle and on 5-gallon buckets in her car, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, the property at 11001 Blue Jay Road had been split into three tracts, with tracts 1 and 2 in Andrea Wilson's and her brother Greg Wilson's names. Ross had filed a new deed removing the pair from the property, according to the affidavit.
Wilson is being held on $750,000 bond in the Benton County Jail.
Her arraignment is scheduled for 8 a.m. June 18 in Circuit Judge Robin Green's courtroom.
NW News on 06/09/2018