Background: News footage of the home in Bryant, Ark. where three people were found dead (KARK). Inset: Jarrod Mitchell (Bryant Police Department).
An Arkansas man was arrested hours after three members of his family were found dead of gunshot wounds in their home.
In a pair of Facebook posts on Sunday, the Bryant Police Department stated that it responded to a call from a man who arrived at a home in Bryant to find his wife and her parents dead after he returned from work that morning at around 7:30 a.m. Three children were in the home at the time, but were unharmed. Later the same day, police announced that they had arrested a suspect, identified as 34-year-old Jarrod Mitchell.
Police did not release the names of the three deceased people, but stated that they were Mitchell”s sister and parents.
According to the police, the man who found the bodies was married to Mitchell’s sister. When police arrived, they found no signs of forced entry into the home.
Mitchell was booked into the Saline County Detention Facility on three counts of first-degree murder, where he is being held without bail. Police did not share a possible motive for the alleged triple murder.
According to court records, Mitchell has a history of nonviolent arrests in connection to drug charges, and was also committed to a detox facility against his will in 2017. Court records obtained by Law&Crime stated, “On 6/18/17 he threatened his mother, her husband, and his sister. He had knives laid out on the bed and one on his person.”
The petition for commitment was signed by Mitchell’s grandparents, whom he was living with at the time of the reported threats. The judge who signed off on the petition ordered Mitchell to be committed to a detox facility for no more than 21 days, stating that Mitchell is “believed to be addicted to alcohol/drugs” as well as “homicidal, suicidal, or gravely disabled.”
Mitchell is being held on $2 million bond. Local NBC affiliate KARK reported that he is expected to appear in court on Aug. 5.
