April 2005 Adam Lee Leadford is convicted in Michigan on charges of resisting and obstructing police, malicious destruction of a building, 11 counts of intentional damage to a school bus and breaking or entering.
Friday Leadford, 18, kicks out a bathroom window and escapes from the Special Alternative Incarceration boot camp near Chelsea, Mich. Family members say he was trying to leave the area because he was frustrated with being incarcerated. Sunday 8: 33 p. m. — A Fort Smith couple reports their truck was broken into while they were eating dinner at Copeland’s restaurant in Rogers. The couple says someone stole more than 100 compact discs, four cameras, a purse and a pair of sunglasses. Restaurant employees tell police a white male walked around the restaurant once, came back around with a bag filled with items and drove off in a white truck. Minutes later, a Rogers police officer spots a white truck matching that description pull out of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rogers and attempts to make a traffic stop. 9: 56 p. m. — A second Rogers police officer gets involved in a chase with the white truck believed to have been driven by Leadford. During the chase, the truck hits two patrol cars and a third car before crashing on Landers Road in Little Flock. Sammie Lou Sasser, 18, and Jason Aaron Emerson, 21, are in the truck with Leadford and are arrested. Sasser and Emerson are charged with breaking and entering. Sasser also is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and fleeing from police. Emerson also is charged with theft of property. Leadford escapes.
Monday
10: 30 A. M. -- Rogers police and Benton County sheriff’s deputies converge on Scenic Drive in the Rogers area because they’ve received information Leadford might be staying with friends there. Officers see a man who fits Leadford’s description, but he eludes them.
4: 30 p. m. — Whitney Long, a 17-year-old Rogers High School student, stops a Rogers police officer and Benton County Sheriff Keith Ferguson and says she may know where Leadford is hiding. Long describes herself as a friend of Leadford’s and says he had stopped by to visit her on Saturday, but she didn’t know he had escaped from the boot camp. Long tells officers she came home from school and found a note from Leadford in her bedroom that was not there earlier. She says she heard noises coming from the ceiling and called her mother, who told her to leave the house. When officers search Long’s home, they find the note torn into pieces. Jim Long, Whitney’s father, tells officers his. 22 semi-automatic rifle with scope is missing. Tuesday
6: 45 a. m. — A motorist calls 911 after spotting a man he said looked like Leadford standing along U. S. 412 near the Benton-Washington county line.
7 a. m. — Two Arkansas State Police troopers and three Washington County sheriff’s deputies attempt to arrest the man along U. S. 412. The five officers have their guns drawn and repeatedly order the man to show both hands. He refuses while lying on his back as officers approach. Trooper Larry Norman shoots and kills the man thought to be Leadford.
8: 45 a. m. — Rogers police receive word that the Arkansas State police have shot a man they believe to be Leadford. Several Rogers police detectives travel to the Northwest Medical Center in Springdale to help identify the man. When they arrive, detectives learn that the man has died. Officers say the man “appears to be Leadford.” They mentioned that the man has no tattoos and that his feet are extremely dirty and appear scraped and cut, which were consistent with the description of Leadford.
5 p. m. — A woman in Avoca reports her minivan was stolen by a man matching the description of Leadford.
5: 30 p. m. — The stolen minivan is spotted on Rader Road in eastern Benton County by Benton County sheriff’s deputies. Deputies follow the vehicle and a chase ensues along U. S. 71 B in Lowell. Officers from Lowell, Rogers and the sheriff’s office are involved in the chase from Lowell into Springdale.
5: 50 p. m. — Springdale police join the chase, which reaches speeds that topped 100 mph.
6 p. m. — The minivan’s driver stops at the north entrance of the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 2004 S. Pleasant St. and runs into the store.
6: 05 p. m. — A Springdale officer fires one shot and hits the man after he squirts the officer with pepper spray. The man, later identified as Leadford, is taken into custody by police, then taken to Northwest Medical Center of Washington County in Springdale.
9 p. m. — Mary Hamley reports her son, Erin Hamley, as missing to the Springdale Police Department. The 21-year-old has cerebral palsy and is mentally handicapped, she tells police. He’s been missing since 10 p. m. Monday, she says.
11 p. m. — State police special agents determine that the man they shot is actually Joseph Erin Hamley.
Friday 1: 30 a. m. — State police inform Mary Hamley that her son is dead. Information for this article was culled from law enforcement spokesmen, police records and court records in Arkansas and Michigan.
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