Pine Bluff police have requested the public’s help in six unsolved homicides in the past three weeks.
Interim Chief Shirley Warrior said Tuesday the urgent drive to find suspects is a result of “different people in different positions” pushing the effort in a “different atmosphere.” But she doesn’t take credit for putting the right people where they belong.
“I think God put different people in different positions, and He put his people in the right direction, and the environment changes,” Warrior said. “And with us working together — because it’s a collaboration; we’re not doing this by ourselves — if we work together as one unit, and we have been doing that with law agencies, with the fire department, with resources … we can make a difference. It’s not just I. It’s not just Chief Warrior in the city. It’s all of us making this community from city hall to the university, to Jefferson County. We’re all making our impact. We’re all at the table, we’re considering everybody’s ideas and we’re making them one idea.”
Warrior was appointed interim chief in April of this year, following the firing of Denise Richardson.
Last week, Pine Bluff police asked the public about two homicides that occurred in 2024. Kendrell Laws was gunned down in the 3100 block of South Catalpa Street on April 11 of that year before noon. Laws died at Jefferson Regional.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Tamar’k Jack was shot and killed at the Village Green Apartments, 4321 S. Olive St., on June 29, 2024.
The suspect in each of the shootings reportedly fled the scene and have yet to be identified.
On Oct. 2, Pine Bluff police sought the public’s help in solving four homicides from 2025. A suspect was named in one of them.
Thomaz Johnson is wanted in connection with the killing of Jimmie Epperson, 29, at 615 S. Missouri St. on Sept. 23. Johnson is described as a Black male standing 5-feet-10 and weighing 160 pounds. His last known address was 2317 Belair Drive.
Brandon Goldberg was found unresponsive in a car parked in the driveway of an unoccupied residence at 3202 W. 15th Ave. on Aug. 31. A suspect has not been identified.
Tarlesha McPhearson, 47, was shot in the area of West 12th Avenue and South Cypress Street after she flagged down Edward Creggett for a ride. Creggett reportedly told police an unknown Black male in his mid-40s to 50s fired one shot that struck McPhearson.
Antonio Gardner was found lying on the floor of a bedroom in a pool of blood at 611 W. 27th Ave. on June 14 and died July 10 from his injuries. Police say Gardner was shot in the back.
Two males told police several Black males ran away from the scene and got into a passenger car.
“We know the importance of solving our homicides, engaging with our community and showing compassion,” Warrior said. “We’re treating every case, no matter how minor or major, like it happened to us. We’re taking this personal.
“We’re all of the same mindset that we want to change the culture.”
Recent incidents are not the police’s sole focus. Cleashindra Hall disappeared from her afterschool job on May 9, 1994, and has yet to be found.
Cleashindra, then 18 and a senior at Watson Chapel High School, worked in the office of Dr. Larry Amos on Faucett Street as a part-time clerk. Her mother Laurell Hall told The Commercial in 2023 she dropped Cleashindra off and watched her walk in, the last time she would see her daughter. According to a 2012 news report, Amos told Laurell Hall that Cleashindra left at 8:30 that night.
Amos in 2023 deferred questions about Cleashindra’s disappearance to a statement he gave police.
“We are putting the word out,” Warrior said about the disappearance. “We’re putting it on our Facebook and trying to get our community to help us. Somebody sees everything, and we just need our community to help us. Somebody who saw anything (is asked to) come to the table, but we did do our due diligence and followed our leads. We’re just asking the community to help us in solving this. Even if you saw something 31 years ago, if you bring it to the table, we can look at it. We’re just pleading on every case to our community: If you see it tell it. That’s how we can get our community back, and that’s what our community’s been doing, too.”
John Worthen, Pine Bluff police public relations specialist, said he has noticed a strong desire within the department to get the recent homicides solved.
“There is not only way more engagement with people, when people send us m00essages on Facebook and say, ‘What about this case from such and such or so and so?'” Worthen said. “We reach back out to them. We don’t let those messages linger. There is a driving force behind the detective’s office to kind of get those things back on the burners, to generate some tips hopefully. It’s a tip that’s likely going to lead to solving these cases.”