2 very different paths
One a good Realtor; other a ‘good parolee’
NIKKI WENTLING, CATHY FRYE AND RYAN MCGEENEY
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Arron Lewis spent much of the past 10 years in prison. The rest of the time he was under the watch of federal probation or state parole officers in five states. He also married, divorced, married again and continued to have run-ins with the law over mostly nonviolent crimes.
During the same decade, Beverly Carter became a multimillion-dollar producer in real estate, lost her 19-year-old son in a car crash and, after a period of intense mourning, started to enjoy life again with her husband, their remaining two sons and four grandchildren.
In 2003, at age 22, Lewis received his first known robbery conviction in Louisiana and spent the rest of that year ditching his parole officer and adding to his criminal rap sheet.
That same year, Carter suffered a devastating loss — the death of her middle son, Christopher.
By 2014, Lewis had been paroled after serving 18 months of a six-year sentence for theft, and Carter was eagerly awaiting a fifth grandchild.
Lewis was being a “good parolee” this time around, said Dina Tyler, deputy director for the Department of Community Correction. He married 41-year-old Crystal Hope Lowery in April, and the two moved into a Jacksonville home.
In a Facebook post in late 2013, he admitted to his criminal past and announced that his path was changing:
“I have a wonderful woman who loves me and i love her, i have a house (paid for), my jeep and motorcycle (paid for), i’m on parole and do what i’m suppose to, i don’t do drugs and i’m happy so before you judge me for who i was, look at who i am.”
Lewis, who described himself as a “daredevil” on an online dating site, posted a YouTube video of himself performing a motorcycle stunt on Arkansas 167 South on April 2. Lowery was with him, filming from a car that was keeping pace with his motorcycle.
As for Carter, she and her husband, Carl, lived contentedly in Scott, a rural community about 12 miles east of downtown Little Rock. After years of barely getting by, the couple was finally comfortable financially. They bought a boat to take out on the lake that abuts their property. They found a golf cart for their grandchildren to putter around in. There were trips to the beach and Disney World.
Then, Carter’s and Lewis’ lives intersected.
HINTS OF VIOLENCE
On Tuesday, Lewis, 33, was charged in the kidnapping and slaying of 50-year-old Carter after Pulaski County sheriff’s deputies found her body in a shallow grave.
Authorities have not said anything about motive in Carter’s death or why she may have been singled out.
Though most of the previous charges against Lewis were not especially violent and involved thefts, court records point to instances of volatility between Lewis and those around him. His attempts to re-enter society have been stymied by his conflicts with police, corrections officers, treatment facility staff members, employers and family members, court records show.
Arguments with staff members and a tendency to quit or get fired from jobs led to his removal from two rehabilitation centers — the City of Faith halfway house in Monroe, La., in 2007 and the Kansas City Community Center in Missouri in 2008.
Later in 2008, he was removed from Arkansas and his father’s supervision in Brinkley because of arguments between him and his father and stepmother.
In the stack of Lewis’ sixstate criminal court records, a few more severe crimes stand out. In 2003, Lewis was arrested in Kansas City, Mo., after stealing a 1997 Chrysler Sebring and driving it across state lines.
According to a Western District of Missouri court record, authorities found a sketch of an explosive device, handcuffs, a police badge and a demand note in Lewis’ possession. At the time of the arrest, Lewis’ roommate had already reported to police that Lewis had an explosive device.
Later, Lewis told officers that he was designing the device to use in a bank robbery.
In 2007, he rammed a patrol car several times during a high-speed pursuit in Louisiana. The pursuit started when a deputy attempted to make a traffic stop because Lewis had failed to dim his bright lights.
Pieces of Lewis’ past can be stitched together from information in his court records, including how many states he’s lived in — at least four, if counting rehabilitation centers as residences — and his knowledge of the penal system, which was extensive enough to hand-write a legal complaint from his Benton County jail cell against eight deputies and jail staff members in 2011. That lawsuit was dismissed after the parties reached a settlement to award Lewis $59,000.
Records — and social media — also provide a glimpse into Lewis’ relationships.
In 2006, some family members asked the court for Lewis to be released from a halfway house in Monroe, La., and placed on work release. His relatives lived in Louisiana, they told the judge, and they could help him get a job and a home and “assume a suitable role within normal societal expectations,” the motion reads.
It concluded: “Petitioner prays that Your Honor may know Petitioner has renounced all ties with criminal conduct … Transfer to Louisiana greatly increases Petitioner’s chance to succeed.”
According to a record of divorce, Lewis’ first wife was Jessica Baker. They married on March 10, 2011, in Washington County and lived together for six months. At the time, Lewis’ address was listed in Springdale at 6233 Clay Ave., a three-bedroom, two-bath home built in 2007.
The couple separated and divorced in September 2011. They had one son.
As of Friday morning, none of Lewis’ family had visited him since his arrest and booking Tuesday into the Pulaski County jail.
“He hasn’t filled out anything for anyone to visit him,” Chief Deputy Michael Lowery said.
FICTITIOUS CLIENT
After a dozen or so years in the real estate business, Beverly Carter was friendly but cautious.
Like other real estate agents, she maintained a book of appointments, listing names and phone numbers. She always let someone know the address of any home she planned to show alone. She remained aware of her surroundings, noting questionable-looking people in the area.
Authorities located Carter’s appointment book. But family members say the name and number of the potential buyer she was meeting Sept. 25 were fictitious.
Carter likely felt comfortable that evening, given that she was meeting a client in her own small, close-knit community.
Investigators have not disclosed at what point things went wrong that evening. Carter’s purse and appointment book were found in her vehicle, which was parked at the first house she intended to show that night.
Leaving behind her purse was normal for Carter, former clients say. She always invited other women with her to do the same so that they could tour homes unencumbered.
At 50, Carter’s life was easier financially.
For the first half of her 35-year marriage to Carl, the couple often struggled to make ends meet. They moved often, wherever Carl found construction work. Carter stayed home with her three boys — Carl Jr., Christopher and Chad — until the youngest started school. Then she found work as a receptionist.
In the early 2000s, Carter decided to try real estate. She was an immediate success at it. Clients loved her charm and Southern twang. She was professional yet friendly. And she had a knack for matching people with houses.
Colleagues liked her, too. While she was competitive, she wasn’t mean or sneaky. Friends at the North Little Rock Crye-Leike office where she worked said her wide smile and infectious laugh made her “the light of the office.”
When Christopher died in 2003, he left behind a baby daughter named Bailey.
Carter remained close with the girl’s mother. When Bailey’s grades dropped last year, the Carters took her to live with them, seeking to improve her education by enrolling her in a new school district.
By the beginning of 2014, the three Carters were happily ensconced in their rural home in Scott. Sons Carl Jr. and Chad lived less than 30 minutes away.
After years of worrying about money, Carter appreciated being able to buy the kinds of clothes she liked best. If it glittered, Carter wore it, her daughter-in-law Kim said. When Bailey started entering pageants, Carter indulged the 11-year-old in day-long shopping trips. For a mother of three sons, having a girl around the house was a novelty to enjoy.
PAROLE REVOKED
The appointment for Sept. 25 to show the house from which Carter disappeared was made a “couple of days” beforehand, according to Brenda Rhoads, who worked alongside Carter at Crye-Leike.
About 5:30 p.m. on the day of the showing, Carter left her home to meet the potential client, ostensibly to view a number of homes for sale in Scott and Lonoke, according to Pulaski County sheriff’s office Capt. Simon Haynes of the criminal investigation division.
About 7 p.m., fellow Crye-Leike agent Jane Carfagno Hall, accidentally locked herself out of her car and a house she was showing at another location.
Hall called Carter’s phone, hoping Carter would know where an extra key to the house might be hidden, but the phone went unanswered.
Between 7 p.m. and 7:40 p.m., Hall exchanged several text messages with someone she believed was Carter.
About 9 p.m., Carl Carter Sr., after several attempts to reach his wife by phone, drove to 14202 Old River Drive in Scott, the location of her first scheduled showing. Her Cadillac SUV was there with her purse locked inside. The house was empty.
Carter reported his wife missing, and at 10:40 p.m., Pulaski County deputies were dispatched to the area, Haynes said. Deputies conducted a search of the area for about an hour.
On the morning of Sept. 26, as authorities and volunteers continued the search, the sheriff’s criminal investigation unit started a full investigation.
“At that point, we had determined that this was more than someone just walking away,” Haynes said.
Working through clues that Friday and Saturday, investigators determined that Lewis was a “likely candidate” in Carter’s abduction, Haynes said.
Investigators began conducting surveillance on Lewis about 7 a.m. Sept. 28, he said.
As searchers continued looking for Carter that Sunday, Lewis crashed his car about 10 a.m. near 8727 Jacksonville-Cato Road in Sherwood. Deputies said he lost control of the vehicle and it struck a concrete barrier.
Deputies arrived quickly and photographed Lewis’ bloody face, documenting his injuries.
Lewis asked to be taken to Baptist Health Medical Center by ambulance. Deputies followed and remained close by, but because no warrant had been issued for Lewis’ arrest, deputies didn’t attempt to detain him.
While hospital staff members were preparing a CT scan to check Lewis for possible brain injury, he eluded surveillance and disappeared from the hospital. Deputies realized about 11:30 a.m. that he was gone, Haynes said.
Between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. that day, a Pulaski County judge issued a probable-cause warrant for Lewis’ arrest.
At 9:43 a.m. Monday, observers spotted Lewis near Green Mountain Drive and Rainwood Road in west Little Rock, and called 911, saying a man resembling Lewis was acting “nervous” at a bus stop.
When witnesses approached Lewis, he fled on foot, running into the manager’s office at the Pleasant Pointe Apartments at 1602 Green Mountain Drive, according to reports. Little Rock police officers apprehended Lewis shortly thereafter and transported him to the Pulaski County sheriff’s office.
Near the scene of Lewis’ arrest, crime-scene investigators located a dump truck that belonged to Argos Southern Star Concrete, a concrete manufacturer and distributor for which Lewis had worked as a driver in July and August. Little Rock police impounded the vehicle.
Pulaski County investigators said they began interrogating Lewis between 11 a.m. and noon Monday and resumed their questioning about 11 p.m. Between 11 p.m. and midnight, Lewis was charged with kidnapping and was booked into the Pulaski County jail.
Between midnight and 1 a.m. Tuesday, Carter’s body was discovered in a shallow grave behind the Argos concrete plant at 12117 Arkansas 5 in Cabot.
Investigators continued working at the scene until about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, Haynes said.
“Evidence is something you can’t go back and get,” Haynes said. “Moving slowly is the fastest way to a good prosecution. It can be time-consuming.”
Investigators went to the home of the Carter family members about 3 a.m. and notified them of Beverly Carter’s death.
Investigators resumed interviewing Lewis about 6 a.m. During the walk from the investigations division to a vehicle that was to take him back to jail, reporters peppered Lewis with questions.
When asked, “Why Beverly?” Lewis said, “Because she was a woman that worked alone — a rich broker.”
Charges against Lewis were amended to include capital murder.
On Friday, the state Parole Board revoked Lewis’ parole, which he had been granted in 2013 after serving a year and a half of a six-year sentence for theft.
He was later transferred from the Pulaski County jail and placed in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Correction. He is being held at the Ouachita River Correctional Unit in Malvern, a state prison spokesman said Saturday.
