The Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office has released details regarding the cause of death of a 71-year-old woman who was reportedly kidnapped from a Conway shopping center and murdered by two Pine Bluff teens last month.
Officials say Elvia Fragstein of Wooster died of strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head and cervical spine.
Two Pine Bluff teens — Tacori D. Mackrell, 18, and Robert Smith Jr., 16, — are currently being held without bond in the Faulkner County Detention center for their alleged roles in the 71-year-old Wooster woman’s death. The teens each face being charged as adults with kidnapping, theft of property, capital murder and robbery following Fragstein’s death.
A missing persons investigation launched after Fragstein’s 79-year-old husband, Helmut, reported her missing July 7. the search soon turned into a murder investigation after Elvia’s body was found four days later in a wooded area along Gibb Anderson Road in Jefferson County.
The teens accused of abducting the Wooster woman from a Conway shopping center have not yet been formally charged in this matter.
Authorities say this was an isolated event and that they are continuing daily with their investigation regarding the details surrounding this incident.
“This was an isolated event, a random act of violence,” Stone said, adding the sheriff’s office “is investigating this case on a day-to-day basis.”
During a review hearing in Faulkner County Circuit Court on Aug. 1, the defendants were able to meet with their attorneys for the first time since they were put behind bars in the county jail.
Bill James was appointed to represent Mackrell and Ron Davis Jr. was appointed to represent Smith.
Both attorneys previously told the Log Cabin they plan to plea not guilty on the teens’ behalf should formal charges be filed against them.
Mackrell and Smith are each scheduled to appear next on Sept. 4 before Circuit Judge Troy Braswell Jr. regarding the aforementioned case.
