MAGNOLIA - Matthew Ryan Elliot, 16, of Magnolia was charged Saturday with murder following the discovery near Village of a grave and a girl whose head had been badly beaten.
The victim was identified as Brittni Jone Pater, 15, of the Kilgore Lodge community. She was the daughter of Tommy and "Skeet"(Skeeter) Pater and a sophmore at Magnolia High School. The suspect is a junior at the school and both were members of the band.
Sheriff Wayne Tompkins would not identify the suspect by name because of his age, but the Sunday News obtained it through other sources.
"I talked to the boy. He admitted that he did it, that he did kill her," Tompkins said.
Tompkins said that his office was called at 3:34 a.m. Saturday to Columbia County Road 493 just north of Village. David Roland Barge Jr., 23, of CR 493 called the sheriff's office to report a body. When Sgt. Mike McWilliams and Deputy Freddie Sargent arrived they found Barge with an unidentified 17-year-old male juvenile. Information they developed indicated that Elliot had killed the girl and was at a deer camp in nearby woods.
Officers went to the scene on a logging road off Arkansas 98 just north og Village and found Elliot's 1990 Toyota, and soon found Elliot sitting next to a campfire at the crude hunting camp about 4:15 a.m. He offered no resistance and was placed under arrest. He is being held in the Columbia County Jail and is charged with murder, Tompkins said.
Elliot's home address is 303 Samuel, Magnolia.
"We have the victim, the suspect, not witnesses but partial witnesses who knew something about it that the boy had told them. We had the weapon and what was there in his car," Tompkins said.
The vehicle was impounded and taken to the sheriff's office in Magnolia for a complete search.
He described the murder weapon as a large peice of metal. He said the victim was struck with it several times. Tompkins said it was possible that the victim was run over by a car, but that further examination is necessary to determine if that's true.
Investigators also have a grave. Tompkins said the suspect took them to the three-foot-deep grave that had a shovel stuck in the ground when they arrived. Tompkins said a second person helped Elliot dig the grave Friday afternoon following school.
Pater's body was sent to the State Crime Lab in Little Rock for an autopsy. She was clothed and there was no evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.
Tompkins said Pater apparently left her home secretly about 10 p.m. Friday to meet the suspect. He said the victim, the suspect and their families know one another.
"The motive is what we've not been able to get. The boy won't give a motive," Tompkins said.
Elliott will be kept under a suicide watch, Tompkins said.
Five Arkansas State Police investigators, Tompkins and sheriff's investigator Todd Scott were looking into the case. Tompkins met Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Becky Jones to brief her about the homicide, and expected to visit with Prosecuting Attorney Jamie Pratt later in the evening.
Rumors about the circumstances of the homicide and the possible involvement of others were in wide circulation Saturday in Magnolia, and it creates a unique situtation wish which Magnolia High School officials will have to deal with Monday morning when classes resume.
"We have a crisis plan we will put into effect for dealing with a situation like this," said Magnolia High School Principal Roger Loper.
The crisis plan includes bringing in counselors and details for handling the media. Loper said any further action by the school district will be announced by Superintendent Dr. John Moore, who was out of town Saturday.
Pater had only recently received a so-called "hardship: friver's license. Elliott has been on the school's meritt list.
BY MIKE MCNEILL, For the Sunday News
