Brinkley man charged in friend’s shooting death

James Lee Frost told Brinkley police “something just came over him” when he saw his friend and his girlfriend leave her apartment early on the morning of Jan. 4.

Frost, 42, said he didn’t really remember what happened next, “but he remembered several gunshots and seeing blood,” according to an affidavit filed Wednesday in Monroe County Circuit Court.

After the hail of gunfire, 33-year-old Xavier Marques Parker, also known as Xavier Parish, lay dead outside an apartment and three others were wounded.

As police cars sped to the scene, Frost drove to the Brinkley Police Department and surrendered at 7:20 a.m., telling a dispatcher he had just killed his friend and his girlfriend, but Holly Yarbrough, 25, survived the shooting, according to the affidavit.

Two people in an adjacent apartment were injured when bullets pierced the door, according to the court document. Police found nine 9mm shell casings at the scene.

First-degree murder charges were filed Wednesday against Frost. It is the second time he has faced a murder charge involving the shooting of multiple people.

Frost was convicted in 1994 of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts website, caseinfo.aoc.arkansas.gov.

On Oct. 27, 1993, Frost, then 18 years old, shot three people in Brinkley after his 14-year-old sister and anothAttorneys

er girl of the same age fought over a boy they had both dated, according to an article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Darren Matthews, a bystander and apparent friend of Frost’s, died after being shot once in the head by Frost, according to the article. Frost also shot Lashanda Williams, 18, three times and Larissa Williams, 14, once.

Solomon Graves, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction, said Frost entered the prison system’s custody on May 31, 1995, and was paroled out on June 8, 2000. Frost was returned from parole to prison on Dec. 5, 2001, and paroled again on July 9, 2003. Solomon said Frost was returned to prison on Jan. 15, 2010, and was paroled on Aug. 26, 2010. His sentence was discharged on Jan. 6, 2012.

In 2014, he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In addition to first-degree murder, Frost also was charged Wednesday with three counts of felony battery and for possession of a firearm.

Frost’s mother told him Yarbrough was in a relationship with Parker, according to the affidavit from special agent Jason Martin with the Arkansas State Police.

Frost took his gun and drove to Pinewood Apartments, Martin wrote. On different sides of the apartment complex, Frost saw Parker’s vehicle and Yarbrough’s

vehicles together,” “Frost Frost parked were vehicle. according figured there, his since white they to the were both 2005 affidavit. Ford through Yarbrough’s F150 the pickup apartment, breezeway and walked Martin to outside wrote. Yarbrough’s Frost was apartment standing when she and Parker stepped out.

Frost told police he “lost it.” “Frost said he doesn’t recall [Parker] or Holly saying anything to him, nor did they have any kind of weapon,” Martin wrote.

After the shooting, Frost got in his truck and drove south on Main Street, according to the affidavit. He saw a police car traveling toward the apartment complex with lights and a siren on, and Frost decided to surrender, Martin said.

Police found a 9mm Springfield handgun loaded with six rounds in Frost’s pickup, along with a box of ammunition, according to the affidavit.

Frost’s mother, Hazel McMillian, told police she heard “from the streets” that Parker and Yarbrough were in a relationship, and she told her son on the morning of Jan. 4. She told police Frost didn’t sound upset during that telephone conversation, and she thought Frost was “over Holly.”

Frost called her back an hour later crying and said he’d just killed Parker and Yarbrough, according to the affidavit.

Parker’s body was transported to the state Crime Lab for autopsy.