ST. FRANCIS COUNTY, Ark. — A 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged with three counts of capital murder after he allegedly shot and killed three people last year, including his mother and teenage sister, the St. Francis County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday morning.
According to deputies, Jonathan Rolfe was arrested Tuesday at a relative’s home in St. Francis.
He was formally arraigned and appeared before the circuit judge on the same day of his arrest.
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Rolfe is being held without bond at the Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center, deputies said.
Shortly after 1:30 a.m. Nov. 27, deputies responded to a welfare check on the 500 block of Gore Street in Crow Creek, according to the St. Francis Sheriff’s Office. They found three dead bodies due to gunshot wounds.
The adults, found on a bed, were identified as Ja’Terrence Wright, 32, and Shalanda Barton, 34, the Sheriff’s Office said. The 13-year-old girl, Kelsie Thompson, Barton’s daughter, was discovered dead on the bedroom floor from a gunshot wound.
Rolfe is accused of stealing his mom’s car and ditching it on an industrial road, not far from his girlfriend’s home, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Investigators said Rolfe had the key fob to his mom’s car.
Investigators said a forensic report returned from the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory positively links the teen to the homicides.
A relative of Wright spoke at a news conference Thursday.
Clarisse Jackson said she is relieved Rofle is behind bars.
”I’m happy this process for justice is beginning,” she said.
Jackson added: ”I understand Ja’Terrance was a stranger to him, but to know he could kill his mother and sibling in cold blood, in such a way is really hard to wrap my mind and understand that,” said Jackson.
”It was absolutely cold-blooded murder,” St. Francis County Sheriff Bobby May said.
Rolfe turns 18 in May.
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