Autopsies on the bodies of Hope Patterson and her mother Betty Desalvo, who were shot and killed in Greenland on Jan. 10, are complete.
Their bodies were returned to Washington County on Tuesday. The results of the autopsies conducted at the State Crime Lab in Little Rock have not been released.
Denise Fulfer, Desalvo's sister, who was shot in the shoulder, is improving, according to Greenland Police Chief Gary Ricker.
“She was well enough to give us a statement as to what happened,” said Ricker.
Police said Patterson was shot in the abdomen and Desalvo was shot in the head. Ricker said Desalvo was physically disabled and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition.
“We had several ambulance calls up there," Ricker said. "She didn`t get around real well. She had a little motorized cart, but she walked around with a cane.”
The shooting took place at an apartment at Elmwood Apartments in Greenland. Police arrested Patterson’s husband, Mandrake Patterson, minutes after the 911 call came in.
“We had an officer that arrived at the house less than a minute after the call, and he probably had him in custody less than a minute after that,” Ricker said. “He was arrested in the apartment.”
Police believe the call came from one of the victims.
“I think it was someone from inside the apartment, one of the ladies," Ricker said.
He said Hope Patterson and Mandrake Patterson both were military veterans.
“Her and her husband both were in the Army and had just gotten out not too long back,” said Ricker.
He also said Desalvo, Fulfer and their brother were all living in the same apartment when the Pattersons moved in not too long ago.
Police said the brother Garry Lamproe was in the apartment during the shooting, but wasn't injured.
“It`s basically a two-bedroom apartment and Ms. Desalvo and her sister and brother had been living there. And I guess Hope and her husband had just moved in a couple of weeks ago,” explained Ricker. “Ms. Patterson I think was around this area and then went into the Army.”
Patterson is being held at the Washington County Detention Center without bond. He’s scheduled to be in court for arraignment Feb. 13.