Suspect arrested in TV anchorwoman's slaying

11/27/2008

Anne Pressly

AP

LITTLE ROCK Police for weeks had neither a suspect nor a motive in the beating death of a popular television anchorwoman. A suspect is now in custody, but many questions remain unanswered.

Officers arrested Curtis Vance, 28, at a home in Little Rock on Wednesday night tipped to his location after police held a late-evening news conference to reveal him as their suspect, said Lt. Terry Hastings, a police spokesman.

Mr. Vance was charged with capital murder in the death of Anne Pressly. The 26-year-old anchorwoman died Oct. 25 five days after being severely beaten in what police described as a random attack at her home.

Mr. Vance lived in Marianna, in eastern Arkansas, but had numerous contacts in central Arkansas, Police Chief Stuart Thomas said. He named Mr. Vance as the suspect earlier Wednesday night and said Mr. Vance was traveling with a woman, three kids, a pistol and lots of extra ammunition.

Within an hour of the news conference s end, officers were at a home south of downtown. Mr. Vance apparently was not armed when arrested, Mr. Hastings said early Thursday.

Police did not disclose what led them to suspect Mr. Vance. Chief Thomas said only that the capital murder charge was based on a very, very solid case due to solid detective work.

Hastings said previously that DNA and other evidence from the scene gave police a portrait of the person they were looking for, though they did not have a name until this month.

Lieutenant Hastings said Thursday that police would not disclose how they obtained DNA to match to a possible suspect. We re going to be very tightlipped on this case, pretrial, he said.

Mr. Vance was interviewed by officers for several hours late Wednesday and early Thursday morning, he said. Asked if Mr. Vance had made a formal statement, Lieutenant Hastings said: He talked with detectives. I ll leave it at that.

Ms. Pressly s father, Guy Cannady, attended the news conference where Mr. Vance s picture was distributed by police.

It s very difficult to look at the picture, just knowing what Anne went through, that that was the last guy that Anne saw in her life, he said before Mr. Vance s arrest.

Lieutenant Hastings said he did not know if Mr. Vance had an attorney. He said a public defender would likely be appointed to the case.

The suspect was being held Thursday at the Pulaski County Jail, awaiting a Friday morning arraignment

Ms. Pressly lived alone in the city s Pulaski Heights section, a mix of mansions and bungalows near a country club. Her mother, visiting from out of town at the time of the attack but not staying at her daughter s home, found Pressly on Oct. 20, a half-hour before the anchorwoman was due on KATV s Daybreak program.

The mother checked on her daughter after she didn t answer her daily wake-up call.

The anchorwoman had been beaten severely on the head and upper torso. She never regained consciousness.