JONESBORO, Ark. A suspect robbed a store at gunpoint and then kidnapped an employee, who was found dead on the highway a short time later, according to a news release from JPD.
At approximately 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Jonesboro Police were notified of the armed robbery of employees of the Dollar Tree located at the corner of Nettleton Avenue and Red Wolf Boulevard. An employee of the store told officers that a black male, armed with a handgun and wearing a dark short sleeve shirt and gray pants with a red bandanna over his face approached the two employees as they were leaving the store and demanded money.
The suspect took the phone of one employee and forced the other employee into her own vehicle and forced her to drive away. The witness stated that he last saw the vehicle headed south on Red Wolf.
As officers were searching for the victim and her vehicle, they were notified of a vehicle/pedestrian accident on I-555, just south of Trumann. Poinsett County Sheriffs Office and Arkansas State Police responded to the accident and within a short amount of time, determined that the female victim was the victim from Dollar Tree. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Captain Lynn Waterworth tells NEA Report currently, it is not known if the suspected robber was also the driver who struck and killed the kidnapping victim. Authorities also dont know what was done to the victim before she was let out of her own vehicle.
We do know that she was struck by a vehicle, but at this point, we do not know her condition prior to being struck, Waterworth said. Her body has been sent to the state crime lab for an autopsy.
Within about the same time frame as the victims body being discovered, authorities in that county were also notified of a vehicle in a ditch on Hwy 14 in Poinsett County. The suspect fled from the vehicle before officers arrived. Officers from the Arkansas State Police, Poinsett County Sheriffs Office and Jonesboro assisted in searching the area for the suspect.
The victims name is currently being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The victim will be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for an autopsy. Investigators with the Arkansas State Police and the Jonesboro Police Department are currently investigating this incident.
Anyone who may have information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Jonesboro Police Department at 870-935-5657 or they can report his location anonymously through Crimestoppers by calling 870-935-STOP (7867).
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