A fifth suspect was arrested early Friday for allegedly helping to dispose of the body of a local man found dumped at Greenwood Cemetery last month after he was shot to death, beaten and stabbed.
James Dean Keyser, 27, who lists a School Street address, was taken into custody shortly before 12:30 a.m. Friday and charged with a felony count of tampering with physical evidence, punishable by up to six years in prison. He was later released on $10,000 bond and is set to appear Dec. 5 in Garland County District Court.
The body of Cory D. Richardson, 31, was discovered the morning of Oct. 23 on a hillside to the east of the cemetery's main entrance at 701 Greenwood Ave. by a resident who was walking his dog. An autopsy later determined Richardson died as the result of a gunshot that entered his upper left buttocks and exited his abdomen. There was also evidence of post mortem injuries, including blunt force trauma to his head and a stab wound to his left thigh.
In total, Hot Springs police say seven people were present when Richardson was killed.
On Nov. 15, Hot Springs police arrested Steven Wood, 42, of Hot Springs, on a felony charge of first-degree murder, punishable by up to life in prison. Stephanie Shell, 21, of Malvern, was arrested at the same time and charged with hindering apprehension or prosecution, punishable by up to 20 years.
Melissa J. Wineland, 37, of Hot Springs, was arrested Oct. 24 and Jake L. Norwood, 28, of Hot Springs, was arrested Nov. 5 and each charged with tampering with evidence in connection with the incident. Other suspects are still being sought including one who will also face a charge of first-degree murder for Richardson's death.
According to the affidavit for Keyser, Richardson was killed or severely wounded at 106 N. Patterson St., Wineland's residence, and transported by car to the cemetery. The car was located and searched on the same day Richardson was found and it appeared to have been recently cleaned.
A large amount of blood, still wet, was found in the back seat. A search warrant was executed at the Patterson Street residence and detectives found fresh blood at the scene.
After Wineland's arrest, she was questioned by Detective Scott Lampinen and allegedly stated she and "Cali," identified as Keyser, took Richardson's body from the house to the cemetery after other suspects caused his injuries.
After dumping the body, she and Keyser went to Walmart, 1601 Albert Pike, where Keyser purchased cleaning products. They then returned to Wineland's residence and began cleaning up the blood there while Wineland and Norwood took the car to be cleaned.
On Oct. 26, Lampinen obtained video from Walmart that showed Keyser entering the store shortly after 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 23 and buying cleaning products. As he was walking out, he ran into Wineland, who was entering the store, and then they both left together.
Wineland reportedly told police that, sometime during the afternoon of Oct. 22, Richardson used a counterfeit $100 bill to pay Wood for meth, which Wood got from her boyfriend, who is one of the people still being sought.
Later that same day, Wineland's boyfriend reportedly arrived at her house, angry at Wood for accepting the counterfeit bill, and told Wood to locate Richardson and "deal with it," and then left.
Wineland said she borrowed a friend's car to run some errands and left the house. Shortly after 3 a.m., her boyfriend called her and said Richardson had been shot at her house and she needed to get there to "clean up the mess." When she arrived, Wood and Keyser reportedly loaded Richardson into the car.
On Nov. 6, another witness to the murder came forward and alleged that Wineland's boyfriend and his son-in-law showed up at the residence at around 3 a.m. armed with handguns and began pistol whipping Richardson on his head, knocking him to the floor.
Wood allegedly jumped up and also began hitting Richardson, who was finally able to fight his way to his feet and run toward the kitchen, attempting to make it to the back door. At that time, Wineland's boyfriend allegedly raised his gun and shot in Richardson's direction.
Wineland's boyfriend and his son-in-law were reportedly the only ones in the kitchen with Richardson at the time, and continued to beat him before a second shot was fired. The witness said they observed Richardson lying face down on the floor, yelling that he had been shot as the two suspects exited the kitchen area.
Wineland's boyfriend allegedly began cleaning blood off his hands and the gun, then he looked to the witness and Keyser and reportedly said, "y'all better clean this mess up," as he and his son-in-law left the scene.
After they left, Wood allegedly began kicking Richardson in the head, yelling at him to get out of the house, as Richardson reportedly kept saying he was dying.
Richardson reportedly lost consciousness as Wood and Shell dragged him out of the house. They reportedly placed his body behind an abandoned house next door until Wineland arrived with the vehicle used to transport the body.
Local on 11/28/2017