Judge raises bail for two in slaying case

A Pulaski County District Court judge raised the bail for two of the four people charged in the slaying and subsequent backyard burial of a Cabot man who was reported missing in late September.

After prosecutors said Joyce Rene Rollf, 40, of Cabot, was believed to be the chief suspect in the beating death of James Heath, 46, who had been reported missing since Sept. 15, her bail was raised from $500,000 to $1 million at her initial appearance in district court Monday morning.

Judge Wayne Huber also raised the bail for William Null, 24, from $500,000 to $750,000.

John Posey, 35, of North Little Rock — facing the same charges as the others: firstdegree murder, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse — also appeared, but his bail remained at $500,000.

Taylor Arnold, 20, who also was charged in the murder after his Thursday arrest, had already appeared in court. He too remained in the Pulaski County jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond.

Pulaski County sheriff ’s officials said they couldn’t elaborate on a motive or the circumstances of Heath’s death, but affidavits of arrest suggest Heath and Rollf argued over drugs shortly before he was attacked inside Rollf’s 10306 Centennial Road residence.

Arnold told detectives that sometime “around the middle of September,” he was in the back bedroom of the residence when he heard Heath and Rollf arguing over “dope.”

Seconds later, he heard Heath cry out “No Rene, No” before he heard two large “thumps as if someone got hit with something,” the affidavit said.

They stepped out and saw Heath, covered in blood, lying on the floor while Rollf sat on top of him clutching a baseball bat, affidavits said.

According to arrest reports, Posey watched the attack and twice got in Heath’s way and thwarted his attempt to escape the residence.

According to Arnold, Rollf took control of the situation, barking orders to everyone about how to clean the blood from the floor in the hall and telling them how to “hide the body,” affidavits said.

Arnold said the group wrapped Heath’s body in a blanket, took the hinges off a door of the residence and used it to cart Heath into the backyard, where he was put in a “shallow grave,” affidavits said.

After the attack, Arnold told an acquaintance that he was made to dig Heath’s grave, the affidavits said.

Arnold told detectives where the body was Thursday, and detectives said they found the shallow grave “covered with debris.” They also found a plastic bag with women’s clothing stained in blood, as well as a medical prescription belonging to Rollf.

While there, an investigator saw a car with Rollf, Null and a third man speed away from the house.

Rollf slit her wrists when she and Null were pulled over by police in Pope County but has been treated and booked into jail, police said.

Heath’s killing, which remains under investigation, marks the seventh homicide in the county this year. The Oct. 16 death of Kimberly Espino Davis, 29, whose body was found in the 8000 block of Harper Road a few days earlier, was ruled a homicide after an autopsy at the state Crime Laboratory.