Woman’s Body Found Burning on Street in Arkansas

[rsmith6621]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- The body of a woman has been found on fire in a city street in southwest Little Rock.

Lt. Terry Hastings says police were called just after 3:00 a.m. Wednesday by a man who thought he saw trash burning in the street. Hastings says officers found the woman dead and her body burning.

Hastings says it appears the woman was killed before she was set on fire.

The cause of death hasn't been determined and the body has not been identified. It's described only as black female in her 20s.


http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story/Woman-s-Body-Found-Burning-on-Street-in-Arkansas/2_Ucsg6Ej0e76ToLr3tXXg.cspx?rss=59

Rush...Hannity and all the HATE mongers are getting the America they want so badly.

[SteppingRazor]

1. I'll actually be surprised if this turns out to be a racial crime...

as opposed to a murderer attempting to destroy evidence.

[Taverner]

12. Question: if it was a murderer trying to destroy evidence

Why was the burning body left in the middle of the road, in plain sight?

Its as if it were meant to be discovered...the killer wanted people to see the body

[we can do it]

35. Excellent Point

[SteppingRazor]

41. Because they want it known that she's dead, but don't want to be caught.

As long as we're engaged in speculation, note the gang/drug-related hypothesis mentioned below. One could easily imagine a scenario in which people would want it known that a person was killed (for whatever reason: talking to the police, stealing money, etc.), but would not want to be caught for the deed.

[Treo]

52. Those who know

will know but the police will have no evidence

[sinkingfeeling]

Because this is Arkansas. (Seems like that's all I say here anymore) Probably

her boyfriend killed her (Arkansas ranks 4th in the nation with number of women killed each year and 'We're #1' for African American women killed in domestic violence). http://www.domesticpeace.com/ed_arkansasstats.html

We also rank very low in education. So the guy thought setting the body on fire would destroy all evidence of his crime.

[niceypoo]

45. Batman: "I have the answer Robin!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion">Spontaneous Human Combustion

Robin: "Where'd you get a live fish, Batman?"
Batman: "The true crimefighter always carries everything he needs in his utility belt, Robin."

[debbierlus]

73. exactly - if they wanted to destroy the evidence, they wouldn't put it in plain view

We can't know what happened with such little information, but it isn't a stretch to consider racial violence a definite possibility.

Disturbing in any case.

[cali]

106. it's not a stretch to suggest that it's possibly racially motivated.

It is a stretch to jump to that conclusion and exclude other possibilities. And people do strange things when they commit a crime, so saying that someone wouldn't do this or that is pointless.

[Cha]

92. Yeah, you'd have to be a real fooking genius

to do that.

[Toasterlad]

Um....Maybe the Killer Wasn't Strong Enough to Move the Body?

I haven't seen this much jumping to conclusions since I read The Phantom Tollbooth. How anyone can form any kind of theory based on the evidence presented is beyond me.

[Toasterlad]

99. Dupe

I haven't seen this much jumping to conclusions since I read The Phantom Tollbooth. How anyone can form any kind of theory based on the evidence presented is beyond me.

[Taverner]

2. Call me jumpy but I'd bet a $50 this is a hate crime

And I never bet money I'm not willing to lose...

[cali]

9. I'd bet it's a Domestic Violence crime.

Not that that makes it any better.

[Taverner]

11. Perhaps, but why wouldn't the perp hide her body then?

When a husband or bf kills their gf or wife, they want to hide the body. If the cops can't find the body, its much harder to convict. Why would the perp put the burning body in plain view?

[cali]

13. no, not necessarily. and lighting a corpse on fire could well be indicative

of someone trying to make a body difficult to identify.

[Taverner]

18. True - that could be the case

But they should have known that dental records can't be burned away

[cali]

20. lots of people don't know that or they're not thinking clearly when they

commit such a crime.

[Taverner]

51. In any case - I think all of us should watch this case

It's kind of nice to know when they're coming for you

[Barack_America]

39. Or they hate her so much they want to punish her corpse too...

...prevent her family from giving her an open casket funeral and all that.

[Taverner]

47. There is that - didn't that happen to Medgar Evers?

[Treo]

56. No Medgar Evers was shot and not disfigured in anyway

His casket was opened several years later as part of a reopened investigation and his body was preserved well enough that his youngest son (who had never seen his father) was allowed to view the body

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_Evers

[Taverner]

57. OK - wrong case. Who was the Chicago kid who was visiting the South

He said "hey baby" to a white girl on a dare, and was beat up so badly his parents were advised not to have an open casket? They did anyway to make a statement.

[smokey nj]

58. You're thinking of Emmett Till.

[Taverner]

60. That's it

And I hope there aren't more cases like that coming down the road...

[get the red out]

15. +1

Still sad and terrible.

[guardian]

104. That was my first thought too. n/t

[Brickbat]

25. Young black women have been killed for years, and for people to hug themselves and shiver and say "I

bet this is a hate crime!" in the hopes of making the right wing look bad is just a little gross.

Oh, wait, I went jumping to conclusions, just like they are. Carry on. My bad.

[DevonRex]

69. It is clearly a message to someone. Displaying the body that way

on fire in a public place means that the murderer wanted somebody ELSE to know she was dead, and in a horrifying manner. It could be a hate crime. It could be a warning to someone for another reason. Hopefully we'll find out soon. And RIP to the victim.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

101. I will take that bet

but we really dont know anything about it yet. But I would be surprised that this isn't anything other than a murder.

[Mrs. Overall]

3. I really hope this isn't what it seems.

[Taverner]

7. I'm convinced it is

People don't usually set themselves on fire

Now, it could be a husband or a boyfriend, but I doubt so. If they had killed her, they would have tried to bury the body.

This was done so that it might be seen. You don't burn someone in plain view, in the middle of the street unless you want someone to see it.

[cali]

27. Nope. You're wrong about most husbands or boyfriends hiding the body

not true at all. It was done in the wee hours of the morning as well. Maybe the perpetrator killed her there and thus decided to try and obliterate evidence or her identity there.

I think it's very unlikely this was a crime based on the victim's race, and much more likely simply another heinous murder.

[Taverner]

37. You may be right

Again, either case, no one wins

[cali]

40. right. whatever the motive, it's heinous.

[Maru Kitteh]

44. It's a poor practice to convince onself with so very little information.

I suspect and fear the same as you, but convinced . . . not yet.

[Taverner]

48. I guess convinced is not the right word

But its become somewhat of a pavlovian response at this point

[bighart]

50. I went to highschool with a guy that did.

He was on parole and strung out. Wife threatened to call his PO and he killed her in the house and then took her body and a futon into the back yard and set them on fire at 2 in the morning to try to hide his crime. Police were called by a neighbor and he went to prison for the rest of his life.

[Maru Kitteh]

62. What was his story going to be? "I wondered why she was dragging that futon outside at 2am with

that bucket of gasoline but you know officer, she had some unusual hobbies, and sometimes you just have to let your wife express herself."


What a tragedy. Thank God they threw the key away on that one.

[rd_kent]

65. "I'm convinced it is" and what convinced you of that?

Did I miss something in the pitifully incomplete story, especially the part where it says the police do not know the cause of death or the circumstances, that allows you to make that conclusion?

[Barack_America]

4. Oh, a black woman? Well then, nothing to see here, move along.

How horrible.

But I didn't see anything in the article about suspects or motive so I don't understand your comments.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Can't jump to conclusions yet.

[Taverner]

8. Jeez

:eyes:

[ShortnFiery]

17. No, but can we say "murder" if her hands and feet are bound in duck tape and "FED"

is written across her naked chest? :(

[DefenseLawyer]

6. Time for spontaneous combustion believers to check in

right on cue.

[Xenotime]

10. How is it the freeps still have so much influence?!?

[Brickbat]

28. Are you serious? Sometimes a murder is just a murder.

It does well to remember that a woman is dead because of someone else.

[sandnsea]

14. I'd bet domestic violence

That didn't go away either.

[Arkansas Granny]

16. There are many other explanations that come to mind. For one thing, there's

a lot of gang activity in Little Rock. I see other posters have alternate explanations, also.

[ShortnFiery]

19. Yes, it obviously is related to drugs or some other untoward thing. She's BLACK ya know?

:crazy:

[cali]

21. or for fuck's sake shorty. Do you ever stop smearing people?

it's a very bad habit, honey.

[cliffordu]

26. One trick pony.

[cali]

29. It's a lousy stinking trick and should be excoriated at every turn.

[cliffordu]

34. Yep.

[ShortnFiery]

36. Cease with the tag team, I already corrected myself and promptly apologized.

Something that I have yet to see (humbleness) from the two of you. :eyes:

[cali]

38. glad you apologized- or sort of apologized.

[ShortnFiery]

42. No, I FULLY apologized to the injured party. If you have a problem with me how

about you show your concern via PM instead of attacking me out in the open?

You can't say that you have not been rude on SOME occasion, knowingly or not? Therefore, either show me genuine concern via PM that I might be getting too blunt, or ignore me.

Tag teaming is so Junior High ... I was hoping we could rise above that type of cliquish behavior? :shrug:

[Arkansas Granny]

46. She apologized, I accepted it. It's done.

[Arkansas Granny]

24. I can assure you that BLACK had nothing to do with my answer.

Please do not attribute prejudices to me that I do not have.

Have a good day.

[ShortnFiery]

31. I was not intending to key you out ... just extrapolating for some. Sorry. :( eom

[Arkansas Granny]

43. Thank you.

[ShortnFiery]

49. Yeah, I get carried away sometimes.

:blush:

I know there are many factors involved in any crime. I'm still frustrated with the lack of attention that the murder of the census worker (KY) is getting by the M$M. Even progressive media is seemingly "afraid" to readdress this murder. I'm wondering what exactly is going on behind the scenes.

Guess my frustration over this murder permeated into this "tragic" situation.

Yes, thanks for accepting my apology and I hope you have a good day. :hi:

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

67. It was obviously committed by a RW hate group. She's BLACK ya know?

:eyes:

[Solomon]

70. 67. I was wondering what took you so long.

LOL Wake up late?

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

72. Just got my lunch break.

[Mike Daniels]

30. I was thinking that it could be gang / drug related as well

It sounds like the type of thing a dealer could do to intimidate people.

[supernova]

22. That poor woman

:cry:

I hope they find out who did this horrible thing.

[myrna minx]

23. How awful.

:-(

[we can do it]

32. This Shit Needs To Stop Now

[Ozymanithrax]

33. This is a story that bears watching.

Under Bush, we would all put it down to gang activity, one gang sending another gang a message, or its own members a signal. In these times, it could be more.

But there isn't enough information to determine anything yet.

[Chulanowa]

53. Clearly it was a suicide and has nothing to do with anything!

We don't know the facts, people! Stop jumping to conclusions! All your logic is useless until we are told what happened! Why, I'm ashamed of my fellow DU'ers thinking that it was racial! It's just a black woman, burning, in the middle of the street! What's so suspicious about that?!












:sarcasm:

[cali]

54. yes, yes. it has to be a racially motivated crime.

there is no possible other explanation.

[Taverner]

59. Don't jump on anyone who suggests this might be racially motivated

Just as we don't know it was, we don't know it wasn't....

And given the track record lately, wouldn't that be an educated guess?

[DevonRex]

71. One thing we do know is that this is no typical murder. Anybody who shrugs it off as

domestic violence needs to think again. Even if it was a case of a person killing their SO there is a threat to others implied in burning the body on a public street.

[Taverner]

76. Very True

Bodies just aren't usually disposed of on city streets. That is, unless the killer wants the body to be found.

[DevonRex]

79. Just think about the way Matthew Shepard was displayed. People

who display their victims are sending a message. In Matthew's case, it was what would happen to gay people in that Wyoming town. Hell, even their stupid defense was that they freaked out because he made a pass at them. :eyes:

In this case, the killer not only wanted the body to be found, but he/she wanted it to be found in a stunning and terrifying state.

[Name removed]

82. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cali]

88. you're absolutely disgusting. in no way has anything I've ever written

or expressed been racist. Not just here, but anywhere. I don't work that way.

there's no excuse for you at all, honey. You're disgusting.

[kestrel91316]

55. Sounds like obvious suicide to me.

:sarcasm:

[MNDemNY]

112. No, clearly, an accident.

[cali]

115. has anyone suggested it's suicide? No.

It's just not clear what motivated this horrible murder.

[BlooInBloo]

61. Ah. More auto-erotic asphyxiation, clearly.

[rd_kent]

63. So, the death of all black people are now racially motivated?

You do no one any favors by jumping to that conclusion before you know what the fuck happened.

[Taverner]

77. No but dumping a flaming corpse on a city street is a sign the killer wanted the body to be found

[rd_kent]

78. And in WHAT WAY is that racial, as you stated?

[Taverner]

80. I didn't say it was racial - just that its not a stretch to consider it so

It could have been a gang sending a message to another gang for all we know

But given the history lately (Clay Cty) and where it happened (AR) its not a big stretch - not at all.

[rd_kent]

81. "Rush...Hannity and all the HATE mongers are getting the America they want so badly. "

If thats not implying that this is racial, I dont know what is.

[Taverner]

86. That's not my quote

Although I do agree with it - they relish this violence because they hate black people.

Thanks for playing

[anigbrowl]

95. It sure is, it's right there in your OP

It's not part of the news report. If you drew it from a comment page somewhere you'd better attribute it, otherwise you own it.

[Taverner]

96. I am not rsmith6621 - I am Taverner

People mix us up all the time though - I think its my ears

[anigbrowl]

110. d'oh! Sorry :-(

[rd_kent]

116. My bad, sorry.

[chrisa]

64. Domestic violence

Has it written all over it. Would be shocked if it's race related.

[DevonRex]

75. So, you've seen a lot of domestic violence victims on fire in public streets, eh?

If this is domestic violence, there is also a message for someone the victim knew. Perhaps her family, perhaps even law enforcement. It's a warning, a threat. It is entirely conceivable that this IS a hate crime against blacks and/or women.

Think about how Matthew Shepard was displayed on that fence. That was for a reason: to warn and threaten other gay people what would happen to them in that town. The murderers tried to act like it was an ordinary robbery then. That was bullshit.

[cecilfirefox]

66. That's terrible. :/ I hope it's not a race related crime. nt

[DevonRex]

68. Displaying the body that way, in flames on a street, would suggest

something other than ordinary domestic violence. It is definitely a message to someone. Whether it is a hate crime and the message is to all blacks, we don't know yet.

[Lilith Velkor]

114. My first guess is that somebody thought she was a snitch

Messages to snitches tend to be that ugly.

Second guess: domestic violence (isn't that such a friendly word for hate crimes against women?)

[CakeGrrl]

74. Need a lot more info on this one. Ever see "First 48?"

For what it's worth, the vast majority of those shows feature black-on-black or brown-on-brown crime, and they've all involved domestic violence, drugs or robbery. Not sure if they have an agenda or if they selectively televise certain cases.

[tammywammy]

83. How sad for her and her family

I hope she was completely dead before being lit on fire. :(

[BolivarianHero]

84. It's Arkansas...

Arkansas is a state where Obama was so much weaker among White votes than Kerry that he actually performed worse overall than Kerry in an election that saw Obama perform SEVEN POINTS better than Kerry across Ameerica.

Since Kerry is more liberal than Obama, we cannot consider ideology as being behind this shift and must thus conclude that it is largely or entirely racially motivated.

In many Southern states, including ones where minority turn-out allowed Obama to perform better than Kerry did in 2004, Obama nonetheless did WORSE among White voters than Kerry did.

These facts are sufficient to convince me that this crime is racially motivated unless the facts as interpreted by a neutral party prove otherwise.

If God were real, Ann Richards and Ralph Yarborough would be inflicting divine plagues from Heaven on anyone who cast a racist vote against Obama this past election.

[MilesColtrane]

108. If it had been California, Michigan, or New Jersey, you might have a point.

Those three states led the country in the number of hate crimes in 2006 and 2007.

Arkansas...not so much.

[Arkansas Granny]

109. Little Rock is a violent town. Check out the crime rates at several websites

and you will find that the violent crime rates are many times higher than the national average. Just because it is in Arkansas in no way proves that the crime is racially motivated. We won't know until more facts are available.

http://littlerock.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm

http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=Little+Rock&state=AR

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ar/little-rock/crime/

[Mopar151]

113. All I can tell ya, havin' met a few Arkies

Is that all the ugly has not leaked out of this yet. And that cheap beer/alcaholic culture had as much to do with it as anything. But some of these folks are poly-perverse, with multiple hates and addictions, or, as they say in Texarkana "fucked up like a can of worms". Did I mention some of the Arkies I met were bartenders?

[Rebubula]

85. So...

...with absolutely no information other than a burning body was found - you make the leap that it must be a racist crime?

Sometimes when I see these stories, I think that some people WANT these crimes to be racist so that can say 'SEE...You See...I told you so' and add create MORE hatred against a perceived enemy.

[Taverner]

87. If it walks like a duck, smells like a duck, sounds like a duck, and looks like a duck

There is a good chance that it may in fact, be a duck

[cali]

97. but it doesn't walk like anything yet. just the fact that the victim

was black is most certainly not evidence that this was racially motivated.

[Taverner]

98. No but there is enough information there to consider it

It happened in Arkansas - that alone tells us a lot

And I am not South Bashing, unless you can convince me the Confederacy was actually a human rights group

[cali]

105. no, really it doesn't. As someone upthread pointed out Arkansas

has a very high rate of DV murders. That it happened in Arkansas doesn't really tell us anything.

[sinkingfeeling]

117. Walks, smells, sounds, and looks much more like a domestic violence killing or a drug/gang killing.

It's Arkansas. We're #1 in the number of African American women killed by men they know/live with.

[cali]

91. you nailed it. some people want it to be the beginning of some

great civil war.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

107. Another case closed for DUer's crack investigative unit.

Emphasis on the "crack."

[onenote]

89. for all those who are convinced they know the motive behind this murder:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Carnoustie-Golf-Course-Body-Identified-By-Tayside-Police-As-Robert-Higgins/Article/200809215097907?lpos=UK%2BNews_8&lid=ARTICLE_15097907_Carnoustie%2BGolf%2BCourse%2BBody%2BIdentified%2BBy%2BTayside%2BPolice%2BAs%2BRobert%2BHiggins


I'm not saying it isn't a hate crime or that it is. I'm saying that those who claim that there is no other explanation for it other than a hate crime are ignoring the fact that the reasons that people do depraved things and the ways in which they do them are myriad.

[cali]

94. you've now identified yourself as a racist according to quite a few assholes

here.

[Taverner]

100. Huh?

What did onenote say that was racist?

[cali]

102. no, no, no. I just got called a racist in this thread for essentially saying

the same thing as onenote. It's as if it's not OK to say that this murder could have been motivated by something other than race.

[TCJ70]

90. People are murdered every day

Doesn't matter what color, sex, nationality, (input attribute here), it happens. Whether or not it's a hate crime lies with the person who committed the murder. Assuming it's a hate crime doesn't do anyone any good.

[Quantess]

93. Usually a woman's killer is her boyfriend, husband, or ex.

And you never know, maybe he was black, too.

This OP is kind of ridiculous until more information is available.

[AspenRose]

103. I'm not convinced this is racially motivated.

Not yet, anyway.

My first hunch would be domestic violence

[bertman]

111. I'll take "spontaneous combustion" for $500, Pat.

[sinkingfeeling]

118. The body has been identified.

http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/oct/01/police-find-womans-body-lying-lr-road-bur-20091001/

The body of a woman found burning on a southwest Little Rock street was identified Wednesday evening as that of Linda Sue McKenzie, 56, of 320 Butler Road, Apartment 5F.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

119. But I thought the victim was in her 20's?

Now I guess we have to confirm that she's black.......