Tag: arkansas

What to Know About the Case of the Missing Missouri ER Doctor Found Dead in Arkansas

A doctor in the Missouri Ozarks went missing for over a week until his body was found in an Arkansas lake. But the case remains shrouded in mystery as investigators have released few details to his family or the public.

What’s Known So Far

Dr. John Forsyth, 49, was last seen alive on May 21, when security cameras in the parking lot of a public pool in Cassville show him getting into a vehicle, after leaving his own car unlocked with his wallet, two phones, a laptop, and other items inside. That’s according to his brother, Richard Forsyth, who said the doctor had texted his new fiancee that morning saying he would see her soon.

His car was found later that day. Investigators haven’t said who was driving the other vehicle.

A search began after the emergency room physician didn’t show up for his May 21 shift at Mercy Hospital in Cassville. There was no sign of Forsyth until a kayaker noticed his body in Arkansas on May 30, at a spot on Beaver Lake some 20 miles (32 kilometers) away from his last known location.

His body had an apparent gunshot wound, authorities in Arkansas say. Although Benton County Coroner Daniel Oxford said an autopsy was completed Thursday, the results won’t be released until the investigation is over.

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Police Bust Into Arkansas Man’s Home for Piercing His Son’s Ear

A video that’s making its way around the web shows police busting into an Arkansas man’s home for piercing his son’s ear.

The video shows five police officers storming a Tontitown, Arkansas man’s home for “illegally” piercing his own son’s ear.

The man arrested in the video was Jeremy Sherland and in the video, Sherland is in disbelief that the police were arresting him for practicing “Body art without a license.”

Sherland’s son could also be heard in the video saying, “I wanted my ears pierced.”

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Police change story on former Clinton aide ‘suicide’ – media

A shotgun was found near the body of former Bill Clinton aide Mark Middleton, who was discovered hanging from a tree at the Heifer Ranch last May with his chest blasted out, a report seen by the Daily Mail on Thursday claims. This contradicts an earlier report seen by the paper which said no firearm was found at the scene.

According to the Mail, Perry County Sergeant Keenan Carter, said a Stoeger 12-gauge coach shotgun, was discovered 30 feet from Middleton’s body. They also say that the former Clinton aide had texted his wife Rhea shortly before pulling the trigger to say he had found “the perfect place for a nap in the sun” and reassure her she was “a great Mom and wife.”

According to Sergeant Carter’s report, Middleton “pulled the trigger on the firearm causing [sic] it to discharge and strike him in the chest and then he fell from the bench causing the extension cord to become tight cutting off his breathing.” 

The gun was found so far from the body “due to recoil from the discharge and the height and angle of the ground,” Carter explained, insisting there was no “evidence to indicate that there was anyone present with Mr. Middleton at this scene or any evidence that there was any type of struggle and/or foul play.”

In the original report, Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Lawson writes that he and an employee of the property owner discovered Middleton’s dead body hanging from a tree by an electrical cord. Searching Middleton’s vehicle turned up boxes of ammo and a gun case, but no gun. The initial report did not mention any gun found at the scene.

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Arkansas cops rule suicide in death of Clinton aide linked to Jeffrey Epstein – who was found shot and tied to a tree with an electrical cord around his neck – despite no sign of weapon

The grisly scene where a top Bill Clinton adviser was found hanged from a tree with a gunshot wound to his chest has finally been revealed nine months after he died. 

But the sheriff’s report into Mark Middleton’s mysterious death raises more questions than answers as it rules he died by suicide – despite no sign of the weapon that killed him.

Middleton, 59, was found dead last May at the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas, an hour west of Little Rock.  

Release of the report was held up after members of his family petitioned a judge. They were worried that pictures from the gory scene would be made public.

The judge eventually ruled that details could be released but photographs could not. 

The report, written by Perry County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Lawson, says he was called to the ranch by worker Samantha McElroy who had found Middleton’s abandoned black BMW SUV.

McElroy, 46, then walked around a cottage on the ranch.

‘Almost immediately after stepping around the corner of the cottage she started yelling,’ wrote Lawson.

‘Upon reaching the back of the cottage she pointed towards the rear of the property and asked if that was a person.

‘I could see what at first appeared to be a man sitting near a tree, as my eyes focused better, I could see a rope of some type going from the tree limb to the male.”

Lawson said it was clear that Middleton was dead.

‘I could see that he had a gunshot wound to the chest and that he had a knot tied in an extension cord that was around his neck and it was attached to the limb directly above him.

The deputy said a search of Middleton’s vehicle turned up three boxes of buckshot and a gun case – but no weapon. 

The details give fresh insight into the death of Middleton, a married father of two daughters aged 18 and 20 who was found dead on May 7 last year.

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Arkansas Elementary School Teacher Assistant Pleads Guilty To Producing Child Pornography

A now-former teacher assistant at an elementary school in Arkansas pleaded guilty to child pornography charges earlier this week.

On Tuesday, Augustus Shenker, a 22-year-old, pleaded guilty to three counts alleging he produced child pornography inside an Arkansas classroom.

Shenker was indicted over child pornography charges in June 2021 after the FBI received a tip in May that alleged Shenker had a Dropbox account with an email that possessed seven different explicit child pornography videos.

FBI investigators looked into Shenker and realized he was employed at an early education school in Little Rock.

Shenker’s place of employment, Miss Selma’s School, educates students as young as 18 months old through fifth grade.

After FBI agents got a warrant on Shenker, they seized his iPhone and discovered six videos Shenker made in March 2021 where he groped a preschooler in a classroom.

A hidden folder on Shenker’s phone contained 19 more videos of explicit child pornography filmed in the classroom at Miss Selma’s School.

United States Attorney Jonathan Ross called Shenker’s actions “unthinkable abuse.”

“This defendant violated the trust parents placed in him each day by placing their children in his care. Using his position to exploit preschoolers is an unthinkable abuse, especially in their own school—the very place we expect children to be protected,” Ross said.

“We appreciate the hard work of the FBI in identifying and arresting this defendant and hope this conviction deters others who would harm children,” he added.

Shenker first told investigators he formerly had a problem with child pornography years ago. Investigators also discovered thousands of images of child pornography across Shenker’s devices.

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Arkansas Library Says Book Teaching Masturbation To Ages 7-12 Will Stay On Children’s Shelves

A book marketed to children ages 7 to 12 that teaches kids to masturbate and affirms gender dysphoria was recently backed by a committee of public librarians in Arkansas after a local parent challenged its place on the shelves.

“Sex Is a Funny Word,” by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth, includes images of a child touching herself in the bathtub and affirmation of gender dysphoria, all aimed at prepubescent kids. A children’s library reviewer described the book in 2016 as a “trans-inclusive sex education book.”

The book, which won top awards from gay activist organizations, “follows a cast of four 8-10 year old kids, including gender queer Zai, as they learn about and explore that strange and funny word — sex.” “Having a penis isn’t what makes you a boy. Having a vulva isn’t what makes you a girl. The truth is much more interesting than that!” the book tells kids.

After a patron’s complaint about the book last month, the Rogers Public Library assembled a committee of six of its librarians, says a letter to the patron dated Aug. 29 from Rogers Library Director Hannah Norris Milligan, obtained this week by The Federalist. The majority of this librarian committee decided to keep this book in the children’s section of the library, where children of any age can find it on the shelves.

The obtained public documents show that Norris Milligan participated on the library’s six-member review committee for the book, recommending that it stay on the library’s shelves “[f]or families that wish to discuss these sensitive topics with their children using a diverse and inclusive resource.”

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Arkansas Judge Found Dead in Lake After He Went Missing on a Family Trip

An Arkansas judge was found dead at the bottom of a lake Sunday after he went missing during a trip with family and friends over the weekend, authorities said.

Arkansas County Northern District Judge Jeremiah Bueker, 48, was in Jefferson County for “recreational travel” with his loved ones, but at some point during the trip he “ventured off alone” and was not seen alive again, according to a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office news release. His death is being investigated as an accidental drowning, the office said.

Bueker was last seen near Mud Lake, where his body was later found, the sheriff’s office reported.

“After time had passed and no one had seen or heard from Bueker, worry began to set in,” the release said. “A search for Bueker by family and friends began.”

After the sun set, the family had still not found Bueker, so they called 911, the release said. An extensive ground and water search was conducted late into the night and early morning by the sheriff’s office and wildlife officers with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Eventually, the search had to be paused due to low visibility, the sheriff’s office said.

On Sunday morning, the search resumed as authorities scoured the lake using boats with side-scan sonar, which allowed them to get “a birds-eye view of the water,” Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. said in the release.

“At approximately 9:16 a.m., the side-scan sonar revealed a body on the bottom of the lake,” and deputies pulled the body from the water, the sheriff’s office said.

The family helped authorities identify the recovered body as Bueker’s and an autopsy will be performed by the State Medical Examiner, the sheriff’s office said.

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Hospital staff must swear off Tylenol, Tums to get religious vaccine exemption

A hospital system in Arkansas is making it a bit more difficult for staff to receive a religious exemption from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The hospital is now requiring staff to also swear off extremely common medicines, such as Tylenol, Tums, and even Preparation H, to get the exemption.

The move was prompted when Conway Regional Health System noted an unusual uptick in vaccine exemption requests that cited the use of fetal cell lines in the development and testing of the vaccines.

“This was significantly disproportionate to what we’ve seen with the influenza vaccine,” Matt Troup, president and CEO of Conway Regional Health System, told Becker’s Hospital Review in an interview Wednesday.

“Thus,” Troup went on, “we provided a religious attestation form for those individuals requesting a religious exemption,” he said. The form includes a list of 30 commonly used medicines that “fall into the same category as the COVID-19 vaccine in their use of fetal cell lines,” Conway Regional said.

The list includes Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, aspirin, Tums, Lipitor, Senokot, Motrin, ibuprofen, Maalox, Ex-Lax, Benadryl, Sudafed, albuterol, Preparation H, MMR vaccine, Claritin, Zoloft, Prilosec OTC, and azithromycin.

Conway Regional notes that the list includes commonly used and available drugs but that it is not an all-inclusive list of such medicines.

Employees are asked to attest that they “truthfully acknowledge and affirm that my sincerely held religious belief is consistent and true” and that they do not and will not use the medications and any others like them.

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GOP Arkansas Governor Vetoes Bill Which Bans Gender Transition Procedures For Minors

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R) on Monday vetoed HB 1570, which bans gender transition procedures for minors.

“The GOP-sponsored legislation prohibits health care providers from administering gender transition treatments, which can include surgery and hormone therapy, to people under 18.” – the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported.

Governor Hutchinson called the bill a “vast government overreach.” and referred to it as a “product of the cultural war in America.”

“While in some instances the state must act to protect life, the state should not presume to jump into the middle of every medical, human, and ethical issue,” he said.

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