A suspect has been arrested in the beating death of a popular Arkansas tv news anchorwoman.
Anne Pressly, 26, was found clinging to life in the bedroom of her bungalow by her mother, who went to check on her when she didn’t answer her wake up call.
Pressly suffered blunt force trauma to her head, neck and chest in what police said was a random home invasion gone horribly wrong. Pressly was beaten so severely, she was barely recognizable. She died five days later in a hospital intensive care unit without ever regaining consciousness.
Police say someone used the victim’s ATM card at a gas station after the beating. For four weeks police had no suspect in the case.
Then on November 26, Curtis Lavelle Vance, 28, was arrested about 90 minutes after Little Rock police held a press conference and aired his picture on the evening news.
Police said Vance was in the company of a woman, three kids and a gun with “lots of ammunition.” Police were tipped off to his location at a home in Marianna, a small town about 100 miles east of Little Rock. He was unarmed and offered no resistance.
Police say Vance had acquaintances in Little Rock and was familiar with the area. Vance’s DNA was used to identify him, but police would not say how they obtained his DNA. Pressly’s parents revealed she had been sexually assaulted during the attack.
“This is a very, very solid case built on solid detective work,” Chief Stuart Thomas of the Little Rock Police Department said at the news conference. “We’re going to be very tight-lipped on this case, pre-trial.” Source
