Berryville Teen Charged With Murder

A Berryville man who was arrested after his girlfriend was found shot to death in her Eureka Springs home Dec. 31 was charged with capital murder Tuesday.

Victor Acuna-Sanchez, 18, had a judicial hearing scheduled Tuesday in which he may have been released from jail if the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office could not produce murder charges. Sheriff Bob Grudek feared Acuna-Sanchez may have fled if released from the detention center.

Instead, investigators received last-minute ballistics lab results that allowed the Sheriff’s Office to charge Acuna-Sanchez with murder and keep him behind bars, Grudek said.

Acuna-Sanchez, 18, was arrested shortly after Laura Aceves was found lying in a pool of her own blood with a .22-caliber gunshot wound to the head. The couple’s 5-month-old baby was found uninjured near Aceves. Aceves was rushed to Mercy Hospital in Rogers, where she was pronounced dead.

Acuna-Sanchez was later found hiding in his shower with a .22-caliber handgun on the floor. He was arrested on suspicion of criminal mischief, but authorities did not have enough evidence at the time to arrest Acuna-Sanchez on suspicion of capital murder.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office has been holding Acuna-Sanchez on criminal mischief charges since the shooting death, while waiting for ballistics tests to come back on the bullet retrieved from Aceves’ head, Sheriff Bob Grudek said.

Acuna-Sanchez’s handgun was sent to the state crime lab to determine if it was the same gun that fired the bullet retrieved from Aceves’ head.

Acuna-Sanchez was arrested and released without bond three weeks before Aceves’ death on suspicion of breaking a protective order Aceves had out on the suspect. Acuna-Sanchez was also arrested Nov. 5 in connection with violating the protective order and theft of property, according to Carroll County court records.

Acuna-Sanchez’s bond hearing is set for Thursday.