Inset: Gregory Whitt (Crawford County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The wooded area where the dead body of Whitt’s husband was found in Van Burn, Ark. (Google Maps).
An Arkansas man is behind bars for allegedly stabbing and killing his husband during a camping trip, authorities say.
Gregory S. Whitt Jr., 39, stands accused of one count of murder in the first degree, according to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office.
The defendant appeared in a Crawford County courtroom on Tuesday where he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Law enforcement, however, says Whitt previously admitted to the brutal murder of Kevin Whitt, formerly Kevin Pennington. The incident occurred last month while the two camped out in the woods near Van Buren, a small city located a few miles east of the Natural State’s border with Oklahoma.
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On Aug. 20, deputies were called out to the area on Catcher Road in response to a possible dead body and suspected foul play, according to an affidavit obtained by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette and Fort Smith-based CBS affiliate KFSM.
There, deputies followed a path to a small campsite with food, drinks, blankets and backpacks strewn about. Then came the grim find. Roughly 100 feet away was the deceased man’s body — blood covering his face, head, neck, and hands. The telltale splash of crimson was also apparently visible on a tree near where the victim’s head was resting. On either side of Kevin Whitt, according to investigators: two Phillips-head screwdrivers.
Both screwdrivers were also coated in blood, authorities said.
The next day, Gregory Whitt appeared at the Crawford County Detention Center where he allegedly told several jailers he was responsible for his husband’s death and asked to speak to the sergeant in charge of the investigation.
“Gregory was visibly upset and crying, stating ‘I miss him’ several times and stating, ‘I killed him,'” the affidavit reads. “And that it was over drugs.”
The defendant allegedly went on to explain that the drug-related argument became physical when the two began to hit each other – though Gregory Whitt was adamant his husband swung at him first.
“Gregory then stated that Kevin started it and that Kevin swung at him, and that he swung at Kevin, and that it escalated to where [Gregory] picked up tools as weapons, and that he tried to stab Kevin in the temple a couple of times and that he doesn’t know how many times he stabbed Kevin in the head.”
The affidavit then recites the defendant’s alleged description of how the fight ended: “I flat-out choked him out.”
A witness reportedly told authorities that they had last seen the married couple together in the woods in question. The witness also said they heard a struggle and shouts the night before the victim’s body was found.
The defendant is currently being detained on $1 million bond. Gregory Whitt is represented by a public defender. He is next slated to appear in court in February for a status conference.
