Pulaski County man held in death of girlfriend found beaten

Pulaski County investigators arrested a 41-year-old man Sunday evening and charged him in the death of his girlfriend, who died after being found beaten and unconscious outside their home earlier in the day, according to a sheriff’s office spokesman.

The sheriff’s office was called to the 4900 block of Vaughn Road around 7:30 a.m. Sunday on a report of an unconscious battery victim, said Lt. Cody Burk, a Pulaski County sheriff’s office spokesman.

When they arrived, he said, they found the woman near the front steps outside 4907 Vaughn Road, a one-story structure located in the county east of the Interstate 40/Interstate 430 interchange.

The woman, who had not been identified Sunday night, was pronounced dead after she was transported by ambulance to a hospital, Burk said.

Investigators arrested Parnell May at 7:19 p.m. and charged him with first-degree murder, according to a report.

Authorities found May hiding under a bed at his residence, according to the report. Evidence on May and physical evidence at the scene led authorities to arrest May, according to the report.

May denied involvement in his girlfriend’s death and said he was innocent.

“I did not kill her. I promise to God,” May said as officials escorted him from the sheriff’s office to a patrol car Sunday night.

May said his girlfriend left the residence around 9 p.m. Saturday.

“She was alive when she walked out my door last night,” he said.

May said that when he woke up about 6 a.m. Sunday, she was gone and he left to find her.

“I didn’t even see her in the yard — that’s the whole point,” May said.

Investigators had not located the victim’s next of kin as of Sunday afternoon, and Burk said he did not think they found any identification with the victim.

Burk said investigators are looking into a motive for the homicide. Investigators processed the crime scene and interviewed people who live in the area, he said.

Neighbor Summer Cooley said she found the woman badly beaten outside the residence with her pants pulled down and her top up.

“I took a shirt of mine and

laid it over her,” Cooley said.

Cooley said the woman’s chest was not moving and she had bruises up the side of her body. The victim’s eye and face were also swollen, Cooley said.

May and the victim were a couple and had just moved into the building Thursday, Cooley said, adding that the victim told her they had been homeless before in Texas, and were just happy to have a place of their own.

“She was just so, so nice,” Cooley said.