Woman murdered, suspect at large
Posted on Friday, July 18, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/63811/
ROGERS — It is peaceful here. The wind is cool, clean, blowing the trees. A steep hill separates the short stretch of Graham Drive from the traffic traveling Monte Ne Road below.
At the house numbered 2606, a few planks lie in the grass. A screen door lies, removed from its hinges, against the front wall. The dark-green garbage bin sits against the road, its contents peeking out from beneath the lid. Normal, considering the home’s occupants are moving out.
And inside the house are the remains of a murder, the first for the city in three years.
It was about 9 p. m. Wednesday when the shots rang out. A 37-year-old woman, Veronica Robles, a mother of five, laid dead, shot numerous times with a. 45 caliber handgun, according to Rogers Police Department investigators.
Robles’ husband was out of town, but she had other family in the house, including her husband’s cousin, 23-year-old Sergio Morales-Carrera, who lived there with Robles, her husband and four of her five children, who were starting to leave the nest.
The warrant now issued for Morales-Carrera accuses him of holding the gun. The warrant says he pulled the trigger and blames him for killing Robles.
And then, police said, when the shots were fired and Robles fell, Morales-Carrera ran. He left the house. He stole his cousin’s truck. He abandoned the truck in Springdale, according to police.
Police are still looking for Morales- Carrera. If they find him, he faces the most severe criminal charge in Arkansas: capital murder. Conviction for the crime leaves only two options for sentencing. If found guilty by a jury, Morales-Carrera would face life in prison without parole or be put to death.
Police Chief Steve Helms said the investigation has become a multi-jurisdictional manhunt involving other local departments, including the Springdale Police Department, which found the stolen truck, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will be patrolling the border into Mexico.
“ Our concern is if he makes it to Mexico, ” Helms said, citing difficulties in extraditing suspects from that country.
Helms did say it was “ very likely” Morales-Carrera would be caught.
The homicide, Helms said, is not an indication that criminal elements are taking over the city. The crime, while a tragedy, is an isolated incident, he said, and is not gang related.
The city has not seen a homicide since March 2005, when baby sitter Samantha Anne Mitchell, then 34, was accused of shaking 4-monthold Dominick Sanders, causing seizures and eventual death. She was convicted in September 2006 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Police still do not know what happened to Alicia Minton, the 29-year-old woman who was last seen in Rogers on June 1, 2007. Police suspect that she was killed and her body was dumped in Beaver Lake, but her remains have yet to be found.