By JOE LAMB

LOG CABIN STAFF WRITER

A Jacksonville man has been charged with the murder of a woman whose remains were found Tuesday in a wooded area in a Jacksonville industrial park.

George Alan Smith, 33, was arrested late Thursday night and charged with capitol murder after day-long questioning from Faulkner County Sheriff's Office, Jacksonville Police Department and Arkansas State Police investigators led to information allegedly tying him to the remains.

The information that led to Smith's questioning and arrest came from an unnamed informant talking to FCSO investigators.

Sheriff Karl Byrd said he will continue to protect the identity of the informant as long as possible.

As Byrd was telling reporters at a press conference on the grounds of the Faulkner County Courthouse that the scope of the investigation was expanding to as many as 15 unsolved murders, Det. Matt Rice of FCSO and other investigators were heading to question Smith.

The man was taken into custody without incident and questioning began early Thursday afternoon at a Jacksonville police station. It wasn't until past 9 p.m. that night that investigators felt they were getting enough information from Smith to seek murder charges.

Smith had been employed by Wright's Cabinets, a business in the Jacksonville industrial park where the remains were discovered. Another location disclosed by the informant near Ann Lane was near Smith's home.

Smith's name also appears on a list of witnesses for the upcoming trial of a man accused of killing cousins Lonnie and Bobby Brock at the east Faulkner County home they shared on Aug. 10.

Smith is being held at the Pulaski County Jail on a $250,000 bond.

(Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached by e-mail at joe.lamb@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)