SALINE CO., Ark. (KTHV) -- We're learning more Monday about what led to the discovery of two bodies at a Traskwood home earlier this month. A Saline County circuit judge recently unsealed about 25 pages of court documents (PDF) in this case.
There's a lot in the 25 pages of documents but a few of the big things include a rundown of events leading to the death of Joe Lee Richards, Junior. He was the Benton man tied to this case, missing for about a year.
The documents are mainly from affidavits for search and seizure warrants on the Traskwood home. They cite witness reports that Richards came to the home the night of October 8th, 2010. And he got into an argument with his girlfriend, Marissa Wright, who lived at the home. Richards then pushed his way into a bathroom where others were cooking meth. The documents say Richards fought with a man in the bathroom and then Wright shot Richards. One witness reported hearing two "pops."
The documents say Marissa Wright, the woman charged in his death, told police that she had used an automotive "creeper" to move Richards' body around the house. Police tell us that's basically a big chain pulley system often used to hoist heavy auto parts. The court documents also say Wright attempted suicide and left a note behind for a family member, saying she'd buried Richards' body under some blocks behind her home.
Now in that same letter, Wright admitted burying the body of another man, Randall Anderson of the Mabelvale area, in a fish pond at her house. Documents say she killed him in February of 2008. And Wright admitted striking him in the back with an ax or ax handle before killing him, then wrapping Anderson's body in plastic. Court documents say investigators found an ax handle while searching Wright's home earlier this month, along with dozens of ammunition rounds, two pistols and drug paraphernalia.
The documents also say prosecutors plan to pursue the death penalty against Wright in both of these murders. They also include information on the second suspect charged in this case, Myra Terry, reportedly an ex-girlfriend of Richards'.