Body of woman found in Garfield

Note led to discovery after Kansas man killed in shootout with police

BENTONVILLE — The body of a woman missing since Monday was found Tuesday night on Whitney Mountain in Garfield, according to authorities.

Charles Pearson, 51, walked into a Country Inn & Suites in Kansas on Tuesday and told the general manager he killed his wife, said Jonathon Westbrook, a spokesman for Kansas City, Kan., police. Pearson told the general manager he had a gun and was heading to the nearby Legends Outlet shopping district, Westbrook said.

Pearson was waiting for officers when they arrived at an intersection near the motel. He got out of the car with a rifle and ignored demands to put the weapon down. Pearson fired several shots at officers, who returned fire and killed him, Westbrook said.

The body of 49-year-old Sylvia Ann Ussery-Pearson was found about 6 p.m. near

a water tank next to the Lodge on Whitney Mountain, according to a news release from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office.

John Lacy, public information officer with the Overland Park, Kan., Police Department said Pearson once lived in Arkansas, but he didn’t know where.

Ussery-Pearson’s body was taken to the State Crime Laboratory in Little Rock on Wednesday, Benton County Coroner Daniel Oxford said.

The Sheriff’s Office received information Tuesday about a missing person case Overland Park police were investigating, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

A family member filed a missing person report for Ussery-Pearson late Monday afternoon, according to Overland Park police.

Ussery-Pearson left her home in Kansas with her estranged husband earlier that morning, but throughout the day, family and friends were unable to contact her, according to Overland Park police.

Police contacted Pearson on Monday night. He agreed to an interview and was cooperative. He said he didn’t know where his wife was, according to police. He gave consent for police to search his vehicle and his home in Lenexa, Kan.

On Tuesday morning,

Pearson told friends he was suicidal and he had harmed his wife, according to Overland Park police.

As Overland Park police were investigating the whereabouts of Ussery-Pearson, police in Kansas City, Kan., responded to the call about Pearson being in the shopping district, authorities said.

Investigators found a

handwritten note from Pearson indicating the possible location of his wife’s body during a search of his home, police said.

Lacy said it hasn’t been established if Ussery-Pearson was killed in Kansas and her body dumped in Benton County or if she was killed in Benton County.