A Little Rock man who told police on Labor Day that he found his wife unresponsive on the floor of their home was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder Wednesday.
Little Rock Police Department spokesman Lt. Michael Ford said Wednesday that Timothy Clevenger, 58, was arrested in the death of his wife, Margaret Clevenger, on Sept. 3.
Ford said Margaret Clevenger, 56, died of blunt force trauma from multiple blows to her body from an unknown object.
At 8:09 a.m. on Labor Day, Clevenger called 911 from their home at 3 Old Forge Court to report that his wife was injured and unresponsive, according to a police report.
Clevenger told officers later that he had just returned home when he found her. In a recording of the 911 call released by the Police Department, Clevenger tells a dispatcher, "My wife is down. It looks like ... looks like she's dead."
Police officers initially considered the death suspicious, but just 12 hours later said the death was being investigated as a homicide.
Timothy Clevenger was taken in for questioning on Labor Day but was later released, though police at the time said he was still considered a person of interest. On Wednesday, 23 days after his wife's death, Clevenger was arrested.
Neighbors described the Clevengers as quiet and kind. Jane Tyner, who has lived across the street from the Clevengers for more than 20 years, said Wednesday that Margaret and Timothy were normally very busy.
"We have known them forever," she said. "They both worked, and they would go places, but they just didn't have time."
An Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality spokesman confirmed Wednesday that Clevenger was employed with the agency, but he could not comment on whether Clevenger has been terminated. Clevenger is listed on a state website as being the department's accounting operations manager.
FIS, a financial services company, has Clevenger listed as data control associate senior, company spokeswoman Kim Snider said Wednesday.
Margaret Clevenger was listed as a pediatric occupational therapist as recently as 2016 for Pediatric Plus Little Rock. In her obituary, the family said Margaret Clevenger had worked at Arkansas Children's Hospital, the Little Rock School District and Easterseals Arkansas, as well.
"I've been so upset since this has gone on," Tyner said. "We'd go to the mailbox at about the same time or I would be outside and we'd talk. She was just really nice."
Tyner said she rarely spoke to Timothy Clevenger before his wife's death, but since he returned to the house, she'd spoken to him three times.
"He said, 'I just don't know what happened,'" Tyner recalled.
Neighbor Carl Brooks said previously that he saw Timothy Clevenger's vehicle leave the house around 6:45 a.m. on Labor Day.
Less than an hour later, Clevenger's truck was back in the driveway. Police cars arrived soon after.
The neighborhood in which the Clevengers lived is small but friendly, Tyner said. Few of its residents are in their 20s or 30s; most people have known their neighbors for a decade or more.
And ever since Margaret Clevenger died on Sept. 3, the community has been worried.
"People have cameras up now," said Scott Davis, another neighbor. "We've been much more vigilant."
Since hearing of the arrest, Davis said he has been thinking about the Clevengers' three children, the youngest of whom is in college.
Davis said the violent nature of the death is not in keeping with Timothy Clevenger's character.
"I would never think of Tim as a violent person. I just would never dream this would happen."
Margaret Clevenger's death still seems unreal, Davis said Wednesday. "She's the last person in the world you would think this would happen to."
Metro on 09/27/2018