Download: RSS | Email Alerts | Text Alerts | Mobile
 

Body found in Lake Catherine


Story Comments Share
Updated: 7/03/2009 6:48 pm Published: 7/03/2009 3:50 pm
Police found a body floating in one of Arkansas' most popular recreational lakes Friday. On a nearby dock on Lake Catherine, investigators also found a gun and a lot of blood. Police in the in the Diamondhead Resort community and the Garland County Sheriff's Department are trying to figure out what happened.

Despite the roar of boat engines and jet skis the Diamondhead Resort on Lake Catherine is usually a relatively quiet community. Crime and acts of violence are almost unheard of.

"The worst crime might be a loose dog running through your yard," says neighbor Michael Oetken.

But Friday morning, police came to 218 Meadowcliff Drive after a woman who lives there found blood and a gun on the boat dock behind the home. When Diamondhead Police got here they found Bruce Edwards floating in the water a few feet from the bank. He'd been shot once in the leg.

Diamondhead Police Chief Pat Mahoney says Edwards owned the boat dock and his wife called police. With little information to go on, Mahoney called Garland County Sheriff's Department to help with the investigation. The chief wants to get to the bottom of what happened to his friend and neighbor.

"He was a nice gentleman I’ve known him for about eight or nine years," says Chief Mahoney.

Authorities won’t say whether Edwards shot himself or someone shot him. “We don't speculate on that we work everything as homicide and then work backwards that way we try not to miss anything," says Chief Mahoney.

Michael Oetken hopes they piece this together soon. He says no matter the outcome, Edwards’s death is tragic. "They're friendly people kind of like everybody is around here it's a small town."

The small town is hoping this isn’t the start of big city problems.
Story Comments Share
1 Comment(s)
Comments: Show | Hide

Here are the most recent story comments.View All

The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of FOX16 - Little Rock, AR News and Weather

kruthann - 8/12/2009 10:07 PM
I beleive this is setup to look like he accidently shot himself, but I don not believe that is the case. This may be a small area, but I have visited my grandma and grandpa's house on this lake and you can hear sounds from across the lake, sometimes you can make out another persons conversation. So somebody would have heard the shot if it was out on the water. Plus, how would the gun be on the boat, and a puddle of blood be on the dock. The majority would be on the boat becuase if the gun is there that had to have been where he was shot. But you couldn't know unless you did a reanactment of the crime to see if he had fallen where the gun would land. If he had to have been shot and they staged it to try and look like it was accidental. It couldn't be a suicide becuase he shot his leg, he would have shot himself in the chest or head wouldn't you think. I think somebody shot him in the leg, inside so it wasn't as loud. Then watched him die and then placed him on the dock. To float you can't have oxygen leaving your body so he had to have been dead before he entered the water or he wouldn't have been floating. But wouldn't his neighbors have seen. Where his neighbors at the house the time of the incedent? Maybe, if he had died after he was in the water; I just don't see how that would happen counsidering it was only one leg that was shot, and couldn't he have cried out to help? Leg shots will be painful I bet, but it would not have an effect so quickly to keep him from getting out of the water or screaming out for help. Plus, if he was under water before he died, it would probably take a while for him to float up becuase he most likely drowned, and the bottom of lake cathorine isn't nice. it's gooey and mucky, and I have lost shoes becuase the sink in the mess at the bottom. So he wouldn't have risen up to the top of the water, he would still be at the bottom. So he was dead before he hit the water, the neighbors must have not been home at the moment, I am not done
The links below are paid advertisements. FOX16 is not responsible for their content.
Current Conditions
50°
High: 52° | Low: 39°
Cloudy
Inergize Digital This site is hosted and managed by Inergize Digital.
Mobile advertising for this site is available on Local Ad Buy.