Gunman’s will, key chains yield little in Gwatney slaying
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Little Rock police estimate that it will be at least a month before they complete their investigation into the life and possible motivation of Timothy Dale Johnson, who shot and killed Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney last week in Little Rock.
Early leads involving Johnson’s will and keys on two Gwatney auto dealership key chains that were found in Johnson’s house several hours after the shooting have so far borne no fruit, police said. The keys appear to have no significance, Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said, and the will was old and had not been recently updated.
After Gwatney was shot, Arkansas State Police troopers and a Little Rock police officer shot and killed Johnson in Sheridan after a 34-mile chase.
Investigators have obtained a subpoena for records related to a phone number found on a sticky note in Johnson’s house along with the word “Gwatney” but have not called the number, Hastings said. Getting those phone-number records could take two or three weeks, he said.
Police have so far refused to release the phone number but have said it has no obvious association to Gwatney or to the party headquarters.
“At this point, we’re not sure it’s going to turn out to be all that important,” Hastings said.
In addition, Johnson’s computer has been sent to the FBI’s Little Rock field office for a full forensic examination, special agent Steve Frazier confirmed Tuesday. Frazier said the bureau’s computer analysis response team will scour it for any information or evidence that could help in the Little Rock investigation.
“The question everyone wants an answer to in a case like this is ‘ Why ?’” Frazier said. “We may not find a full or complete answer to why he did this. But our analysis may produce some insight into what he was thinking in the time leading up to this event. When nobody seems to have any real answers, that has value, too.” Johnson, 50, quit his job at a Target store in Conway a little before 8 a.m. Wednesday after scribbling graffiti on some walls. He headed home in White County and gathered some of his dozenplus gunsinto his blue 2000 Dodge Dakota pickup before driving to Little Rock. Gwatney, 48, who served a decade in the state Senate and owned three General Motors dealerships, was shot inside Democratic Party headquarters two blocks east of the Capitol at 11: 49 a.m.
Little Rock detectives and the Arkansas State Police, investigating the shooting that killed Johnson in the Grant County town of Sheridan, are awaiting results of a toxicology screening from the State Crime Laboratory. Though such results in an average case can take more than a month, Crime Laboratory Executive Director Kermit Channell said Tuesday that he expects to have them back by the end of the week.
Channell said he was not sure whether the toxicology report would show the concentration in Johnson’s system of the chemical compounds left behind by the antidepressant drug Effexor, for which a prescription was found in Johnson’s home and in his name. The concentration of the compound could indicate how much of the 75-milligram dosage Johnson had taken and how recently.
“You don’t simply cast out a net for every drug available,” Channell said. “The medical examiner working a particular case specifies which drugs to screen for and usually also reviews a person’s medical records for relevant information. I don’t know for sure that’s being done in this case, but it would not be unusual.” Studies have shown that side effects of Effexor, occurring in fewer than one in every 1, 000 patients, include increased risk of suicidal thoughts and impulsive actions. The drug’s more common side effects include nausea, constipation, insomnia and sexual dysfunction.
Little Rock police on Monday had discussed getting a subpoena for Johnson’s medical records but dismissed the idea.
“Best that we leave the stuff requiring expert medical knowledge to the experts,” Hastings said.
State police spokesman Bill Sadler said his agency’s investigation is continuing, too.
“There are still a few reports we need to get in to complete our file,” he said. “There is still some more work to do.”
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