Store heist turns deadly

Woman held after clerk killed, driver stabbed

LORADO — Greene County authorities arrested a woman moments after they say she fatally shot a rural store clerk and stabbed a delivery driver during an attempted robbery Wednesday morning.

Stacy Keplinger, 36, of Leachville was arrested walking along Arkansas 168 about a mile from Lorado Grocery Store, Greene County Sheriff David Carter said.

She was charged with capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and first-degree battery in Greene County District Court. Judge Dan Stidham ordered Keplinger held in the Greene County jail in Paragould without bail.

Police said Keplinger entered the grocery store about 12 miles north of Jonesboro at about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday and forced at gunpoint clerk Stacy Quintana, 45, of Lorado and Aaron Jenkins, age unknown, of Conway into Quintana’s car parked by the store.

Jenkins was a delivery driver and had stopped at the store with supplies when

Keplinger attempted to rob it, Carter said.

The sheriff did not say if any money was stolen.

He said it appeared Keplinger did not know Quintana or Jenkins and the robbery was done “at random.”

Keplinger shot Quintana with a 9mm handgun while Quintana sat in the car, Carter said.

She turned the weapon on Jenkins, but it jammed and would not fire, the sheriff said. Keplinger then grappled with Jenkins and slashed him with a knife across the neck, Carter said.

Jenkins was treated and released at the scene by paramedics.

Jenkins called the sheriff’s office at 6:56 a.m. and gave a description of Keplinger.

Keplinger walked west on Arkansas 168, and a Greene County constable who was in the area heard the broadcast on his police radio and apprehended Keplinger.

Carter would not say if Keplinger still had her weapon.

He did not know if Keplinger walked to the store or if someone dropped her off there.

“It’s a rural grocery store,” Carter said. “You don’t just walk up to it. You have to know you’re going there.”

The shooting shocked those around the small community. It was the first homicide in Greene County this year, Carter said.

“She cared about people,” Linda Nance of nearby Walcott said of Quintana. “She always had a friendly word and a smile for everyone who came in the store.

“You felt welcomed when you went in. There was absolutely no reason for what happened.”

Police tape cordoned off the front of the grocery store Wednesday morning, but by the afternoon the tape was gone. The store was closed and the lights were turned off. A flashing marquee sign with the store’s name blinked as heavy rain and hail pelted the area as a storm moved through.

Ginny Nutt and her husband, Richard Nutt, have lived within 2 miles of the store for the past 50 years.

“This is a real quiet neighborhood,” Ginny Nutt said. “A lot of people go there for coffee each morning.

“It’s scary. We’ve never had something like this happen before. It’s sad. You expect it to happen in big cities, but not here.”