Investigation continues into murder of local woman

The Union County Sheriff’s Office is still actively investigating the recent murder of an El Dorado woman.

“We are definitely making some progress,” said Capt. Jeff Stinson, chief detective for the UCSO.

Early on Jan. 28, 22 year-old Marchella Modica was found dead near the Wesson community, a subdivision between Parkers Chapel, Three Creeks and Junction City. Modica’s remains were sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for an autopsy the same day.

Union County Coroner Stormey Primm said injuries observed on Modica’s body were consistent with a homicide.

Stinson said yesterday that detectives intend to continue playing the case close to the vest, withholding specific details about potential suspects or motives, but that the investigation is going strong.

“This morning we got a lot of the forensic evidence that we gathered delivered to the Crime Lab,” he said. “We’re waiting for the physical evidence, DNA evidence and other evidence we’ve gathered to come back with some results.”

Stinson said detectives have also identified some persons of interest and that they are in the process of ruling some out.

“This case is about as serious as they come, and it’s complex,” he said. “There’s fast and then there’s right, and in a case like this, you want to be right,

because of the ramifications for the person that you ultimately name as a suspect, as well as the victim’s family. You want to deliver justice, but you want to deliver it correctly.”

Stinson said their investigation started at the crime scene, then branched out to inspect other aspects of the victim’s life in order to create a suspect pool. This is the typical path of murder investigations, he said.

“You start with a big pool and based on the evidence that you gather, that pool becomes smaller and smaller until the evidence leads you in a specific direction and tells you where you should be looking,” he said.

The UCSO is asking that anyone with knowledge of the crime or information that could be related to the case contact the UCSO.

“There may be people out there that might have some direct insight into something that may even seem insignificant,” he said. “But in a case like this, nothing is insignificant. Give us the opportunity to evaluate the value of it. It may be something pivotal.”

The UCSO office is located at 250 American Road and detectives can be reached at 870-864-1970.