Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Second Suspect Arrested In Fire

By JOHN MILLER

A second suspect in the Emmet gymnasium fire has been arrested.

Jim Westmoreland, criminal investigator for the Nevada County Sheriff's Office and Prescott Police Department, and Arkansas State Police investigator Scott Clark arrested Richard Matthew Ward, 19, of Hope, Friday, Dec. 6.

He was returned to the Nevada County Jail from the Arkansas Children's Hospital burn unit.

Ward has been charged with arson in the case, along with his wife, Latisha Ward, 17, of Hope.

According to the affidavit of arrest, Ward did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, in complicity with and as an accomplice to another, namely his wife, start a fire for the purpose of destroying an occupiable structure which was the property of another, in this case the Emmet gym.

Arson is a class Y felony with a possible sentence of 10 to 40 years in prison or life.

According to court records, the fire was reported at 1:21 a.m. Nov. 19, with the first fire departments arriving at 1:30 a.m.

Records show firefighters told authorities the blaze spread rapidly and was out of control by the time they arrived.

Additionally, witnesses noticed what appeared to be a trail of clothing leading from the gym, down a hill and toward the tennis courts on the north side of the campus.

Officials were notified a man had been admitted to Medical Park Hospital in Hope at 2:01 a.m. with burns, and officers with the Hope Police Department were dispatched to MPH to see if there was any connection between the two.

Hope officers were told by Ward's wife he had been burned while pouring gas into a burn barrel. He was transported from MPH to the Arkansas Children's Hospital burn unit, where he remained until Friday.

Clark and an investigator with the Texarkana, Ark. Fire Department did a fire scene search, using the TFD arson dog, Zeus.

The dog "hit" on several spots, with samples taken from them, determining the fire had been intentionally set.

According to records, officers spoke more with Ward's wife, who later gave a written statement on what happened.

The affidavit states she drove her husband to Emmet, with him getting out of the car with at least one container of gasoline.

According to records, she drove around for a while, later stopping behind the gym where she saw her husband on fire and running from the gym.

She helped Ward put out the fire and took him to MPH, records show.

She has also been charged with arson in the case.