HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) _ A parolee has been charged in the slaying of an 80-year-old Arkansas woman who was reported missing last week.
The Sentinel-Record reports Kevin Buerke was charged Thursday with capital murder in Betty Slaughter’s death. Buerke could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted.
Law enforcement found Slaughter’s burned remains Aug. 25th in a cemetery in Royal. The Arkansas State Crime Lab says swab samples from a vehicle Buerke allegedly used had matched Slaughter’s DNA.
Buerke was a Wisconsin parolee who transferred to Arkansas. He’s been back in custody since Aug. 23th on a forgery charge after investigators found Buerke a day earlier tried presenting to a bank a counterfeit document granting him “power of attorney” over Slaughter.
Garland County jail records don’t list an attorney for Buerke.
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