By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Sherwood authorities confirmed Tuesday that DNA evidence led them to the man they arrested Monday and charged with the capital murder of an elderly Sherwood woman.
Sherwood District Court Judge Butch Hale said he issued the warrant to arrest Carter Wilcoxson, 60, after victim Katherine Cleary’s DNA was found on his shoe when he was arrested on Aug. 23 for charges related to drug possession and parole violation.
That was two days after she was reported missing and the day her body was found.
Police said Wilcoxson, who pleaded not guilty Tuesday, was a “couch hopper” whose relationship with the victim continued after he stopped working in her neighborhood.
A “couch hopper” is someone who does not have a residence and sleeps on friends’ couches, said Josh Adams with the Sherwood Police Department. He could not say if Wilcoxson and Cleary were friends or dating, or if they had a business relationship.
“I have no idea. Only he would know that and he’s not talking to investigators,” an investigator said.
Wilcoxson appeared at Sherwood District Court Tuesday morning and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. He is being held without bond in the Pulaski County Detention Facility.
The case will be handled in Pulaski County Circuit Court, where he has appeared numerous times over the last two decades.
According to the Pulaski County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, Wilcoxson was convicted of felony theft of property and a drug charge in 1991, burglary and several counts of fraud in 1992, fraudulent use of a credit card in 2001, possession of a controlled substance in 2001, attempt to deliver a controlled substance, fraud, commercial burglary and theft by receiving in 2005, and two felony counts of possession of methamphetamine earlier this year.
According to the state Department of Community Correction, Wilcoxson was re-leased on supervised parole in June 2009 and that parole was revoked on Oct. 11. He received and served part of a 15-year-sentence behind bars after he was convicted of residential burglary and forgery in 1997.
Cleary was reported missing from her Austin Lakes home in Sherwood on Aug. 21, after police responded to an alarm at her home and found her car gone. Neighbors say the house was in disarray.
Two women, Rhon-da Glassburner-Strong, 51, of North Little Rock and Sonia Bell, 39, of Jacksonville were arrested three days later after detectives linked activity on Cleary’s stolen credit card to the purchase of a flat-screen television at Jacksonville’s Walmart. Store cameras taped the two women using the card.
Hale confirmed that one of women told police that she had been with Wilcoxson, and he had dumped something near Boyd Road just outside Jacksonville city limits. Investigators found Cleary’s body there in a ditch.
Glassburner-Strong and Bell were charged with felony theft by receiving and fraudulent use of a credit card. They have not incurred any additional charges, said Capt. Grady Russell of the Sherwood Police Department.
He said Wilcoxson and the two women were acquaintances. They have also been in and out of court for drug and theft-related charges around the same time Wilcoxson was.
Glassburner-Strong’s past convictions include about half a dozen drug offenses (the most recent involves cocaine), one felony theft by receiving charge and a few counts of prostitution.
Glassburner-Strong’s probations have been revoked multiple times. In fact, she was due in court on Sept. 22 for sentencing on her 2009 case involved drug charges and her revocations.
The sentences for crimes committed in close proximity were also concurrent. If they had been consecutive, she would have been behind bars when Cleary went missing.
Also, if Glassburner-Strong had stayed out of trouble, she could have had her records sealed because of a plea bargain she agreed to, according to Pulaski County Court records.
Appearing in court within the same time frame was Sonia Bell, although her record is significantly lighter. Bell was charged with felony theft by receiving in 2001 but the case against her wasn’t prosecuted.
She was later convicted of two felony possession of a controlled substance offenses, one in 2003 and one in 2009. Bell was sentenced to four years, but served two in a community correction center. She has been on parole since November 2010 and was set to be released from it in December.
The continuing investigation into Cleary’s murder could result in other arrests and charges. Her cause of death is not being released because of the investigation.
According to a news re-lease, “The Sherwood Police Department has remained in contact with the family of Ms. Cleary during the course of the investigation and will continue to do so.
“The family’s cooperation and understanding during such a difficult time for them has aided us in our ability to conduct this homicide investigation,” the statement said.
Lt. Carl Minden with the Pulaski County sheriff’s office said deputies helped Sherwood police identify Glassburner-Strong and Bell, recover Cleary’s body and locate her car.
One of her neighbors told The Leader, before quickly closing his door, “it worries me it happened that close to us.”
Another neighbor, Mike Harsha, said, “I’m glad it now seems to have finally come to an end.”
