Cases separated in fatal kidnapping of Wooster woman; cousins charged

CONWAY — A judge on Tuesday separated the cases of two teenage cousins accused of kidnapping and killing a Wooster woman who had been on a shopping trip in nearby Conway.

The attorney for 16-yearold Robert Smith III asked that the cases be divided in light of a police affidavit indicating the older co-defendant had implicated himself, Smith and a third person in the crime that, police said, began in the parking lot of Conway Commons shopping center on July 7. Elvia Fragstein’s body was found July 11 on a rural road near Pine Bluff.

Smith and his cousin, Tacori Mackrel, 19, pleaded innocent to charges of capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and theft of property in the death of Fragstein, 72. Both suspects are jailed without bail.

The affidavit hinted at gang involvement, but Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Carol Crews declined to elaborate.

“While discussing possible motives, I learned of a gang called ‘MG’ (murder gang) out of the Pine Bluff area,” Faulkner County sheriff’s investigator Andy Cook wrote in the affidavit, filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court.

The affidavit does not say whether police believe either defendant is affiliated with the gang.

Pine Bluff police officer Richard Wegner said in a brief interview that the city has “a gang issue that we are addressing,” but he said the department has decided not to state the gangs’ names publicly.

Mackrel’s attorney, Bill James, said he has “no reason to believe” that his client is affiliated with the gang or that the gang has anything to do with this case beyond its reference in the affidavit.

Attorney Ron Davis, who represents Smith, declined to comment on specifics of the affidavit but said, “We maintain his innocence.”

Davis noted that he requested Judge Troy Braswell sever the cases after learning of Mackrel’s alleged statement to police on July 16.

Prosecuting Attorney Luke Ferguson said at a news conference that his office filed the charges late Friday.

Ferguson said no decision has been made on whether to seek the death penalty if Mackrel is convicted. Under Arkansas law, capital murder is punishable by life in prison without parole or death.

Smith is charged as an adult but is exempt from the death penalty because he is under 18.

According to the affidavit, Mackrel — who earlier had denied being in Conway on the day of Fragstein’s abduction — told officers on July 16 that he and Smith had been there on July 7 “when an unknown Caucasian male with a .357 caliber revolver pointed out Mrs. Fragstein and instructed them to take her.”

Mackrel first told police that she got into the driver’s side of her vehicle, a 2013 Silver Honda CRV, and that he got into the back seat, the affidavit says. Mackrel indicated that Smith also got into the vehicle and soon drove off. Mackrel’s account of what happened, though, changed as the interview with police proceeded, the affidavit says.

“He didn’t have information on a name or where the [third] male was from,” it says. “He stated that the Caucasian male just pulled up beside him and Mr. Smith and was ‘strapped’ with a .357. After reviewing video footage and getting witness statements, we have not found any evidence to corroborate” that this third person was involved.

Fragstein was last seen on video surveillance footage after she left TJ Maxx department store at 3:43 p.m. on a Saturday, afternoon. Her body was found four days later, though authorities have not said exactly when or where she died. Her obituary lists her date of death as July 11. Authorities have said strangulation and blunt-force trauma caused her death.