Committee requests Vaden to seek answers about evidence

A county government committee voted Tuesday to ask Prosecuting Attorney Marcus Vaden to seek information about a 19-year-old murder investigation.

The resolution, proposed by Justice of the Peace Jerry L. Roberts and approved by the Courts and Public Safety Committee of the Faulkner County Quorum Court, states that "(Vaden) should request information associated with the Pamela Felkin's murder from the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office regarding the location, since receipt, and disposition of evidence, including, but not limited to, pieces of carpet and a mattress stained with what appeared to be blood, so as to ensure the Prosecuting Attorney is fully informed of any results of analysis or expert opinions which may improve law enforcements' abilities to identify the perpetrator of this heinous crime."

Roberts has alleged that Faulkner County Sheriff Karl Byrd and other FCSO employees have given different answers as to whether evidence collected in 2000 is missing or whether it was ever submitted to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for evaluation.

Byrd, who wasn't sheriff when the evidence was collected and stored, said Roberts was involved with this case before he was. Byrd questioned why Roberts wasn't asking these questions when Roberts was the chairman of the task force formed in 2000 to further investigate the Felkins murder.

Byrd said he believed Roberts' claims against him are politically motivated and that Roberts shouldn't have access to details of the ongoing investigation.

"He's not law enforcement, and he's not going to have access or be a part of this case," Byrd said.

Vaden said he's been working with FCSO and other law enforcement on the Felkins case.

"Originally, when H.G. Foster was prosecutor, different ones of us were assigned to this case. So, I'm familiar with the evidence that was over there back then. The Sheriff's Office has done a good job of keeping me informed on what's going on over there," Vaden said. "But I have not specifically had a conversation with the sheriff about where the evidence in question is. We'll have that discussion. But I have not seen anything at this point that causes me concern about the integrity of the case. This is something we can easily find out about and make a determination about how relevant it is."

Vaden said the resolution passed Tuesday night didn't request anything of him that he wouldn't normally do.

"I'm gonna do my job the best I can before this resolution and I'll not do it any differently after," Vaden said. "I'm gonna do as good a job on this case, or any other, as we can. I'm as dedicated to finding the person or persons who did this as anybody. I think the sheriff is. If we can find the people who did this, I think that would be wonderful. But until then, they'll keep investigating and hopefully at some point they will have enough evidence that they can give me so that I can decide whether there's enough to prosecute somebody."

JPs Dianna Kellar, Lauralee Wilcox-McCool and Ancil Lea voted for the resolution. JP Dan Thessing voted against the resolution. Thessing said his reason for voting against the resolution was because he didn't believe it was the Quorum Court's place to make such determinations.