Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Murdered Hope Woman Has Gurdon Ties

A Hope murder victim had ties to Gurdon.

According to reports, Nicholas Wade Whatley, 20, of Hope has been charged with capital murder in Hempstead County for the death of Kelly Stroud, 27, also of Hope.

Stroud's body was found Thursday at her home. Officials with her employer, Meyer's Bakery, asked the Hope Police Department to check on her, because she hadn't been seen since Monday, Feb 26.

When officers went to her home, they found her body. However, the cause of death has not been released yet.

Officials with the Arkansas State Police connected Whatley to the crime after tracing calls from Stroud's stolen mobile phone early Friday to the McCain Mall area of North Little Rock.

ASP officials alerted the North Little Rock Police Department to the calls, with NLRPD officer Dennis Dorrel finding Stroud's stolen car, a Mitsubishi Montero, around 3:10 a.m. Friday morning in a parking lot at Fairfield Inn.

As he arrived he saw two men walk from a motel room and get into the vehicle. Dorrel and his partner, Tom Dickson, stopped the car and arrested the passenger. Whatley fled in the sport utility vehicle (SUV).

Dorrel stayed with the passenger while Dickson chased the Montero. Officers followed the SUV onto I-40, across the Arkansas River on I-30 to I-530 where it got stuck in a muddy median near the Dixon Road exit in south Little Rock, officials said.

Randy Rhodes, also with the NLRPD, arrived with his canine partner, Tosca, as Whatley tried to get the vehicle out of the mud.

Whatley was ordered out of the vehicle and onto the ground, but refused. Rhodes let Tosca go, and the dog bit Whatley in the right forearm and on the left side of his back as he struggled.

The suspect was treated for dog bites at Baptist Memorial Medical Center, while Tosca was taken to a local vet for treatment.

Whatley was found to be in possession of Stroud's wallet and mobile phone.

When officers returned to the motel room, they found components for a methamphetamine lab.

Stroud's brother, Happy, lives in Gurdon.