Authorities have released the mugshot of a name of a 17-year-old girl accused of murder in Mena.
Cheyenne Fink is charged as an adult with first degree murder in the death of Loyd Cole. Fink is being held on a $500,000 bond.
Still no word on how Cole was killed. Prosecuting Attorney Andy Riner’s office said Circuit Judge J.W. Looney has sealed the case and no further details will be released.
Riner does not expect to seek the death penalty in this case because he says the Supreme Court doesn’t allow it in cases involving juveniles.
The 80-year-old man was found lying in a ditch near Gilham Street around 11 a.m. Monday, according to Det. Brandon Martin with the Mena Police Department.
“It’s a great community,” said Det. Martin. “This is something that doesn’t happen in Mena. It shocks everybody in the community.”
Neighbors say Cole took daily walks around the neighborhood. Cole was found a little over half a mile from his home in the 1700 block of Amsterdam.
“We watched him because he was 80, and we kept our eye on him when he would go for his walks,” said Joann Aynes, Cole’s neighbor for 48 years. “Always afraid he might fall or something but never this.”
Aynes said Cole is survived by his wife and son who are still trying to makes sense of his death.
“They’re just hurt so bad to think about their husband and father being hurt like he was hurt,” said Aynes. “He was just harmless. And to think that he would suffer like he did has just been so hard on them.”
Cole was laid to rest on Dec. 7.
