Arnold Gordon Gwathney, 78, was found dead in his Forrest City home on October 15, 2017; his death was ruled a homicide. Gwathney was a retired Forrest City Times-Herald employee and taught the adult Sunday School class at Oak Hill Church of God.

Investigators connected the killing to a robbery at a Family Dollar in nearby Brinkley. A suspect fled in a vehicle that was later found wrecked and abandoned; during a multi-agency search an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission officer located a man matching the suspect’s description in an agricultural field. The man, identified as Larry Watts and covered in mud, was taken into custody. The vehicle Watts had been driving was Gwathney’s, and Watts was held on a parole violation while robbery, vehicle theft and homicide charges were pending.

Questions remain about the sequence of events that led from the Brinkley robbery to Gwathney’s death and how Gwathney’s vehicle came to be involved; anyone with information is asked to come forward.