The Benton County woman accused of gunning down her husband while he slept was declared mentally fit Thursday to stand trial. Legal proceedings had been suspended after she was found to be mentally unfit for trial last year.
Susan Fleck was transferred from the Benton County Jail to the Arkansas State Hospital in Little Rock late last year after Benton County Circuit Court Judge Robin Green found her mentally unfit in the murder case. After undergoing treatment, Fleck’s fitness was declared restored and legal proceedings continued Thursday in Green’s courtroom, according to the Benton County Prosecutor’s Office.
Fleck, of Gentry, has a pretrial hearing in Benton County scheduled for April 14, according to prosecutors. She remains in the Benton County Jail without bond.
In March 2013, Fleck was charged with capital murder in the death of her husband, Evan Fleck.
Benton County investigators released an arrest report March 5 that states Fleck shot her husband after finding a picture on his iPad of him embracing another woman.
Green, the judge overseeing the case, denied bond the same day for Fleck.
The victim was found dead with a gunshot wound to the right side of his cheek in his bed in the master bedroom of the family’s home east of Gentry on March 3, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Benton County Circuit Court.
“It’s something that you really don’t expect to happen in a small town like Gentry,” Pollard said.
Fleck drove to Delaware County and called a Benton County dispatcher to report what had happened, court documents show. Fleck told a dispatcher her husband was in the bedroom and had recently filed for divorce. She said she destroyed her life, according to the court documents.
The Fleck’s four children, ages 7 to 15, were home at the time of the shooting, officials said.
Fleck woke one of the children at 3:40 a.m. and said “something bad happened,” according to court documents. She told the four children to stay out of their father’s room, court records show.
A Delaware County booking report states Fleck was taken into custody at Twisters, a convenience store in Kansas, Okla., and booked into the Delaware County Detention Center in Jay, Okla., at about 7 a.m.
Investigators responding to the residence at 19147 Arkansas Highway 12 east of Gentry found Evan Fleck dead in the bedroom with what appeared to be a single gunshot wound to the head, Benton County Sheriff Kelley Cradduck said.
Cradduck said Fleck was shot with a handgun, which authorities later recovered.
Investigators said the couple had been arguing before the shooting. Deputies searching the home found an iPad referenced by Fleck in her call to police. Photographs showed Evan Fleck embracing another woman, the affidavit states.
A detective confirmed Evan Fleck had engaged in an affair with the woman and that Susan Fleck knew about it, the woman in the picture told an investigator.
Evan Fleck filed for divorce from Susan Fleck on Feb. 19, according to records in the Benton County Circuit Clerk’s office.
He was employed at VeriFone in Bentonville, according to his Facebook page.
After the incident, the children first were placed in the custody of the state Department of Human Services, but since have been placed with relatives, officials said.
