Missing Arkansas real estate agent Beverly Lyn Carter was found dead Tuesday, and the suspect's bizarre behavior is making national headlines.
KTHV: “She disappeared last Thursday, and her body was found overnight in a shallow grave at a concrete mixing company at the Pulaski / Lonoke county line.”
Forty-nine year-old Carter initially went missing last Thursday when she was scheduled to show a house to a potential buyer. (Video via KARK)
Her husband later drove to the house and found her purse in her car and the door to the home wide-open.
Since then, police have arrested a former employee of the concrete mixing company where Carter’s body was found. Thirty-three-year-old Arron Lewis faces charges of kidnapping and capital murder. He pleaded innocent to those charges Thursday. (Video via WCAU, KTHV)
The details are heartbreaking, but not terribly out of the ordinary for a murder case. So why is it national news?
Well, it may have to do with the details surrounding the case. Suspect Arron Lewis has displayed strange behavior both before and after his arrest. (Video via KLRT)
As The Washington Post reports, Lewis was involved in a car wreck on Sunday — saying a car he could not describe ran him off the road. He was a person of interest in the case at the time but had not yet been arrested.
The Post also reports Lewis was apprehended after looking “nervous and suspicious” at a shopping center. Civilians eventually cornered Lewis in an office building and held him until police arrived. (Video via ABC)
Then there was this seemingly contradictory statement to reporters as he left court Tuesday.
REPORTER: “Why Beverly?”
SUSPECT: “Because she was just a woman that worked alone, a rich broker.”
2ND REPORTER: “Did you kill her?”
SUSPECT: “No.”
According to CNN, Carter also said he would have pleaded guilty to the charges against him but his lawyer told him not to.
Of course, there’s Carter’s story too. Many have pointed to the vulnerability of a female real estate agent working alone.
ABC reports many agents now fear for their own safety — and the agency Carter worked for has already requested a police detective speak to their employees to try to calm their fears.
And there’s the fact Carter seemingly did everything right. Even calling her husband to let him know where she would be the day she was scheduled to show the house. (Video via KATV)
Lewis has also reportedly faced charges in Kansas and Utah. He was on parole at the time of Carter’s murder.
