This morning, Detective Sgt. Jeff Wood and Detective Lt. Chad Morrow traveled to Yell

County to interview a suspect in the death of  Julie Richardson of Hagarville.  Based on

information they gathered during the interview and the physical evidence that was

collected at the scene and two places in Yell County, we anticipate filing charges of First

Degree Murder against Tommy Bowden, age 48, the son of Julie Richardson.

Bowden is currently in custody in Yell County on unrelated charges.

From the first hour we received the call, Deputies and Detectives worked tirelessly to

interview neighbors, family and friends as well as collect and preserve numerous pieces

of evidence which will be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for analysis.

This is the type of case that you have to work…you can’t jump to conclusions, make

false accusations or try the case on social networking sites.  You have to have good, old-

fashioned police work, which involves interviews and evidence, and that’s what we have

done. 

We cannot discuss manner of death, we cannot go into details about the evidence or the

interview.

What we can say is what we said from the beginning, this was an isolated incident, a

domestic situation and the community at large was not in danger.

Through various means immediately after we received the call, Mr. Bowden was located

and his whereabouts were monitored at all times until he was taken into custody on

unrelated charges from Yell County.  He was taken into custody by Yell County and the

Arkansas State Police.

In a case like this, information has to be held close, there are things that simply cannot be

released to the public so as not to interfere with the investigation and we appreciate all

those who understand that.

There were many rumors circulating throughout the community by word of mouth and

social networking sites and as much as we wanted to comment on those, again, we could

not so as not to interfere with out own investigation.

I appreciate the public’s patience, their input and their assistance in helping us with this

investigation.

Offers of assistance came from the Clarksville P.D., Lamar P.D. Arkansas State Police,

Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Forest Service.  I appreciate their offers

of assistance.

I want to specifically thank the Arkansas State Police, Pope County Sheriff’s office, the

Yell County Sheriff’s office and the Dardanelle P.D. for assisting my detectives with this

investigation in their counties.

Bowden will remain in custody in Yell County until formal charges are filed and he is

transferred to Johnson County.