Boyfriend of missing LR woman jailed 11 times

LITTLE ROCK, AR - FOX16 has learned new information about the boyfriend of a Little Rock woman missing for more than a week.

Little Rock police want to bring Michael Robinson, 29, in for questioning in the disappearance of Patrice Smith, 28. Smith's sister tells FOX16 that detectives are pursuing new leads, but they can't share them with the family because they can't compromise the investigation.

Smith's sister thinks people know where the couple is tonight, but they are too afraid to come forward.

"I believe people are trying to stick with the code, you know, my home boy my home girl, but I mean, what if it was your sister, your mother or your cousin or your grandma?" asked Smith's sister, Maria Hairston Monday.

Hairston last saw Smith March 24 when Robinson picked her up at a family picnic.

Robinson has a record of getting booked into the Pulaski County jail going back nearly twelve years, and Smith has an order of protection against him. Little Rock police say the couple has a history of domestic violence. Robinson has previously faced several drug, weapons and domestic violence charges in Pulaski County alone.

Since September 2000, Robinson has made eleven trips to the Pulaski County jail, the latest on March 6 of this year for aggravated assault and kidnapping charges. Robinson got out of jail the same day with a speed letter from a judge and bond set at 25-hundred dollars, meaning Robinson only had to come up with $250.

"I believe this incident wouldn't have happened if he hadn't, you know, been able to have bonded out," says Hairston.

"Was that an incident that happened with your sister?" asked FOX16's Kelly Dudzik.

"It was. Yes, it was. And him and his mother coerced her to come to court with him and say this and say that. This is my opinion, I am speaking for my opinion, and I don't believe that should've happened like that," says Hairston.

But, it's completely legal. Monday, FOX16 spoke with Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley on the phone, and he said that bond amounts are always up to the judge.

And what about the jail?

"We can only house somebody for what the judge tells us to hold them," explained Lt. Carl Minden with the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office.

"Hopefully, we'll get closure or some type of peace, you know, sometime soon," added Hairston.

Little Rock police say the couple could be in a 2004 tan Ford Explorer with tinted windows and Arkansas Game and Fish plates: GF YIH.