$1 million bail set in slayings of three

A Pike County man is being held in lieu of a $1 million bond in the shooting deaths of two women and a child Saturday near Murfreesboro.

Timothy Allen Hill, 43, of Pike County, is accused of killing Dana Hill, 33, Julie Hartsfield, 54, and Autumn Hartsfield, 9.

Timothy Hill was the estranged husband of Dana Hill, the Texarkana Gazette reported Sunday. Julie Hartsfield was Dana Hill’s mother. Autumn Hartsfield was the granddaughter of Julie Hartsfield and the niece of Dana Hill, the newspaper reported.

The Arkansas State Police is leading the investigation.

On Monday, during Hill’s bail hearing, Circuit Judge Charles Yeargan scheduled an arraignment for 9 a.m. next Monday at the Pike County Law Enforcement Center in Murfreesboro.

A probable-cause affidavit was not available Tuesday from Prosecuting Attorney Brian Chesshir’s office or the Pike County circuit clerk’s office. Chesshir was out of town and unavailable for comment. The circuit clerk’s office said it had not received a case file on Hill.

State police investigator Hays McWhirter testified Monday that Julie Hartsfield was found in the driver’s seat of a white 2003 BMW parked in the driveway of a home at 3489 Arkansas 301, about 8 miles southeast of Murfreesboro.

Autumn Hartsfield was found alive in the back seat of the car and was rushed by helicopter to a Hot Springs hospital where she died Saturday night.

Dana Hill was found shot to death in a bathroom in the house. Chesshir said a single gunshot was found in the doorknob of the bathroom. The BMW had eight bullet holes. Information for this article was contributed by John Worthen of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.