By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
A suspect has been charged in the first murder in Beebe in more than 17 years.
Jeffery Likes, 39, was charged Thursday with one count of capital murder in the death of his mother, Nancy Wiggs, 59. The mother and son lived together at 401 Lee Lane in the Fetcher addition.
Wiggs’ body was found in her home at 6:22 p.m. Tuesday after a neighbor reported that the door appeared to have been forced open.
Likes was arrested on unrelated charges Thursday morning after being detained in Missouri by members of the Kansas City Police Department’s fugitive division.
Capt. Rich Lockhart, spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said acting on a tip from Beebe, police officers arrested Likes without incident at the Kansas City International Airport and held him until police detectives from Beebe arrived to question him.
Two detectives from the Beebe Police Department and one White County deputy drove to Kansas City on Wednesday to interview Likes, who appeared in court in Kansas City on Thursday morning and waived extradition on charges of probation violation for a non-violent offense in Pulaski County.
Beebe Police Chief Wayne Ballew said Friday morning that Likes was taken to the White County Detention Center Thursday evening where he was interviewed and charged with murdering his mother.
No details about the murder have been released. Both Ballew and Prosecutor Chris Raff say revealing the details of the crime could jeopardize the investigation.
Ballew said Thursday afternoon that an autopsy was being performed by the state Crime Lab, which is also examining other evidence collected at the scene.
