Man who reported dead bodies arrested

A Little Rock man who told police there were two dead women in his house Tuesday was booked into the Pulaski County jail on two charges of first-degree murder early Wednesday, a police spokesman said.

Officers arrested Montrell Lamar Burns, 32, around 11 p.m. Tuesday, 12 hours after investigators found Shameika Eason, 35, and Mallida Webb, 36, dead in his Nichols Road home, officer Eric Barnes said.

Burns called 911 at 10:48 a.m. Tuesday and told dispatchers he returned home and found two dead women in his mobile home, Barnes said.

Investigators said both women had been fatally shot, and both deaths were considered homicides, indicating the gunshot wounds didn’t appear to be self-inflicted. The deaths were the city’s 42nd and 43rd homicides of 2019, and the fourth in five days.

Officers took Burns in for questioning shortly after arriving at the scene, Barnes said.

Barnes said Wednesday investigators didn’t know exactly when the women were shot.

Medics arrived and pronounced Eason and Webb dead, Barnes said. After detectives got a warrant to search the house and crime scene technicians documented the scene, the women’s bodies were sent to the state Crime Laboratory for autopsy.

There were multiple dogs in the mobile home when investigators arrived, and Barnes said officers with Little Rock Animal Services took the dogs to the city’s shelter. The detectives also asked the U.S. Marshals Service to help find potential witnesses or people with information about the deaths.

In the arrest report on Burns, officers said witness statements and evidence at the scene led officers to consider Burns a suspect.

The connection between Burns and Eason was designated as “otherwise known” in the police report released Wednesday, but that connection wasn’t disclosed. The report didn’t list any connection between Burns and Webb.

Eason and Webb lived in North Little Rock, each about a 20-minute drive from Burns’ home, according to the police report.

Since 2015, officers have been sent to the street 21 times, and 19 of those calls have been in reference to burglaries, thefts or other larcenies. Two of the calls — one of which was to the address where Burns lives — involved a reported aggravated assault.

Burns has no criminal history of violence, according to court records.