FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – The parents of a Springdale man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and kidnapping their daughter will continue to have temporary custody of the girl and her brother at least until a court hearing in April, records show.
The hearing set for April 1 in Washington County Circuit Court will determine whether custody will go to Christopher Paschall’s parents or the family of his ex-girlfriend, Casey Lee Brace. She was shot and killed in January at a home in Washburn, Missouri, records show.
In the meantime, Brace’s family will be allowed to visit the children once a week, according to an agreement reached Friday (Feb. 13) between lawyers for the two families.
Springdale residents John and Mary Paschall earlier this month were granted temporary guardianship of Alli Ann Paschall, 2, and Braxton Cole Paschall, 4, according to court documents.
The father of the two children is accused of shooting their mother and her grandfather to death last month at a home in Missouri before kidnapping Alli Paschall and fleeing to Arkansas, according to court records.
Hours after the shootings, Paschall, 37, was arrested without incident at his parents’ home in Springdale. The girl was uninjured
Brace, 29, died of her injuries at the scene, and her grandfather, Herbert Townsend, 76, was taken to Cox Medical Center South in Springfield, Missouri, where he died several hours later from multiple gunshot wounds, officials said.
A Barry County, Missouri, Circuit Court judge granted Brace’s family custody of the children on Jan. 30, but a Washington County Circuit Court judge ruled less than a week later that Paschall’s parents should get custody. Benton Court deputies were sent to the residence of Brace’s mother, Cathy Townsend, to pick up the children so they could be delivered to the Paschall’s home in Springdale.
Under the Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, the Washington County Circuit Court is the proper court to determine custody in this case, according to the Feb. 3 order from that court.
The act stipulates that minors must reside in a state for six months before a court in that state has jurisdiction. The children only lived in Missouri, the site of the shootings, for about four months, since late September or early October, according to the Washington County court order.
Brace’s family is seeking to have the children returned to them by filing court documents in Washington County, officials said.
Brace’s sister, Brittney Woods, said the family sought custody through a court in Missouri, not knowing they were supposed to have gone through the court system in Arkansas.
The Barry County, Missouri, Prosecutor’s Office has charged Paschall with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and armed criminal action, according to court documents. The prosecutor is also planning to recommend a $1 million bond once Paschall is jailed in Missouri. Meanwhile, Paschall is being held in the Washington County Detention Center, awaiting trial on a previous local charge.
For more on the charge Paschall is facing in Washington County, click here.
