1 killed in wreck
in Miller County
A man was killed in a head-on collision Tuesday morning in Miller County, according to Arkansas State Police.
Kendall Megason, 26, was driving east on U.S. 82 when he attempted to pass three vehicles about 7:42 a.m.
The vehicle driven by Megason of De Kalb, Texas, struck an oncoming vehicle.
Megason was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the other vehicle, 37-year-old James Hall of Detroit, Texas, was taken to Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana.
Road conditions were clear and dry at the time of the crash, state police reported.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE55-year-old’s body sent to Crime Lab
BLYTHEVILLE - Blytheville police sent the body of a woman found on her porch Monday to the state Crime Laboratory to determine the cause of death, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
At 8:50 a.m. Monday, police were called to an apartment at 1106 David Lane in south Blytheville, where they found Barbara Faye Jackson, 55, lying unresponsive on a porch. Paramedics confirmed that Jackson was dead, said Capt. Scott Adams, the commander of the Blytheville Police Department’s criminal investigation division.
An investigation into the death is continuing.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEPolice arrest man in ’13 Ohio death
JONESBORO - Authorities said a man wanted in the slaying of an Ohio woman has been arrested in northeast Arkansas.
The U.S. Marshals Service said officers arrested Marquis Walker, 29, on Monday in Jonesboro. U.S. Marshal Bob Clark said the arrest came after an hour-long standoff after Walker barricaded himself in an apartment.
Walker was taken to the Craighead County jail, and authorities did not know if he had an attorney. Police Sgt.
Doug Formon told Jonesboro television station KAIT-TV, Channel 8, that investigators believe Walker had relatives in the area, but they don’t know how long he’d been in Jonesboro.
Walker was wanted in the October death of his ex-girlfriend, Jordan Jones, 23, of Toledo. Police have said they believe Walker forced his way into Jones’ apartment and shot her several times.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSGirl’s killing leads to calls for change
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The mid-February kidnapping death of a 10-year-old Springfield girl has led to calls to change Missouri’s Amber Alert system.
Fourth-grader Hailey Owens was walking just a block from her home when she was abducted. Springfield police responded within 10 minutes of the initial 911 call. But the statewide child-abduction alert didn’t go out for more than two hours.
The Kansas City Star reported that a grass-roots campaign in southwest Missouri is working to speed up an alert system that requires three-page forms be filled outby hand and then sent by fax.
Middle-school football coach Craig Michael Wood has been charged in the girl’s death after police reported finding her body in Wood’s basement.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oklahoma drops hate-crime charges
TULSA - State prosecutors have dropped hate-crime charges against a Tulsa man accused in an attack on a woman in January.
Stuart Manning was charged Jan. 10 with assault and battery, malicious injury to property, and malicious intimidation because of race or color. Authorities accused Manning of hitting a woman in the forehead and vandalizing her vehicle while calling her a Muslim and using an expletive.
The Tulsa World reported state prosecutors dropped charges because a federal investigation is underway. The Oklahoma Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has asked the U.S.
Justice Department to file a hate-crime charge against Manning.
Manning had previously pleaded innocent to the charges. According to a police report, Manning told officers that he was drinking and didn’t remember the attack.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPolice investigate
2nd infant death
LANAGAN, Mo. - Authorities in southwest Missouri are investigating the second death of an infant at a McDonald County home in slightly more than a year.
KZRG radio reported sheriff’s officers were called to a home in Lanagan on Sunday morning about an unresponsive 2-month-old girl.
The infant was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Chief Deputy David Roark said the mother told investigators she fell asleep and rolled over on the baby while breast-feeding her in bed.
Roark said the mother lost a 2-month-old baby in the same manner in January 2013.
Sheriff’s officers plan to present their findings in the latest death to the McDonald County prosecutor for possible charges. Roark said two other children in the home have been placed in foster care.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSPolice: Boat likely struck tree stump
CLAREMORE, Okla. - Authorities say a fishing boat that jerked suddenly on Claremore Lake, throwing its two passengers into the water, likely went off course after it struck a tree stump.
A report released Tuesday by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol offers more details on the accident that killed Jonathan McClure, 19, of Claremore. McClure was fishing with Sheldon Mashburn, 19, on March 13 when their 16-foot bass fishing boat suddenly started spinning in circles.
Mashburn was rescued by a passing boater and taken to shore, but McClure never resurfaced. His body was discovered by a dive team several hours after the accident.
The highway patrol’s report said Mashburn told authorities that the boat’s motor struck a tree stump in the lake, causing the vessel to jerk to the right.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 03/21/2014