In a little over a week, the 2016 murder of Jimmy Ray Yocum will officially have been an active case for the Fort Smith Police Department for a full year.
According to Sgt. Wes Milam with the communications department of the FSPD, who contacted Inside Fort Smith on Thursday in response to an email, the case is still active and ongoing.
“From what I understand this is still an active investigation,” said Milam. “Our detectives are still running down leads, but nothing new has come from it. Since it is still active, unfortunately I cannot release anything additional than was released last year.”
Yocum, who was stabbed to death by two yet to be identified males in an apartment on North 11th Street in June 18 of last year, had nothing in his background that would indicate connections to gangs or drug activity.
Yet family members say they have been plagued by rumors that the stabbing was the result of a “drug deal gone bad” and they feel that label may be affecting the perception of Jimmy and the priority given the case. The family is frustrated and reaching out again in an effort they hope might shed new light on the circumstances surrounding his death.
“I miss my son a lot … he was my best friend,” said Yocum’s mother Susan. “I just don’t understand how this happened.”
The lone blemish on Yocum record, at least locally, was a 2015 conviction in Crawford County for DWI, which resulted in an $1120 fine, mandatory Alcohol Anonymous meetings and electronic house arrest for six days.
He was allowed to make time payments on his fine and did so faithfully each month starting on November 16 until the court abated his fine and court cost upon his death last year.
An emotional Susan Yocum volunteered that the Crawford County DWI was his second, saying he had received one several years before, but said she felt like Jimmy was essentially “a good boy who had made a few bad decisions” to drive while drinking.
“There was nothing else…no drugs, no crime and no trouble,” said Susan. “Nothing that should have led to something like this. He cared about people… he wasn’t perfect, but no one is.”
“I know that Detective (Troy) Williams is still working on the case and a I really do appreciate all of his efforts,” said Susan. “We just need leads, new information … anything that might help lead us to whoever did this.”
The facts in the case seem well established.
At 2:30 a.m. on June 18 of last year, when officers arrived at the scene at an apartment located at 1201 North 11th Street in Fort Smith they found Yocum bleeding severely from stab wounds to his back and abdomen. He was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.
Information released at the time of the stabbing by the FSPD indicates that two men attacked Yocum outside his apartment after demanding money. They then followed him inside where they kicked and stabbed him.
According to a FSPD press release released at the time of the incident, two females were at the apartment on the night of the stabbing, Yocum’s girlfriend and the girlfriend of a relative.
One of the female eyewitnesses told police she heard dogs barking and saw two men, a Hispanic and a Caucasian, who asked her where Yocum was. The witness told police she woke up Yocum and told him two men outside wanted to speak with him.
When Yocum went outside, the witness heard arguing, went to check on him and saw him clutching his abdomen while the two men kicked him, according to the FSPD news release.
Witnesses said a blonde woman drove the two men away from the scene in a four-door red or maroon four-door passenger car. The two men then fled the area in an unknown direction of travel. In addition to the red or maroon car, eyewitnesses also told police there was a dark-colored black Ford Explorer in the area the night of the stabbing.
The suspects were described as a short chubby Hispanic man between 20-25 years old with black hair and a skinny bald white man between 35-40 years old. The Hispanic suspect may also go by the name of “Jimmy”.
Sherry Allen, the aunt of Yocum, says the family has been informed that rumors have circulated the entire incident was the fatal outcome of a drug deal gone bad. Allen feels like the stabbing may have stemmed from a dispute over a deal about a $150 tattoo in the months before his death.
“Back in February I was with him at Walmart and a guy that fits the description of one of the suspects came up to him and said, “you owe me a hundred and fifty dollars”, said Allen. “Jimmy told the guy he had never seen him before and asked him what his name was… the guy turned and walked off and said, “you will get what’s coming to you.”
“I was driving Jimmy Ray back and forth to work at the time and he seemed to have really been puzzled as to why the guy had approached him at Walmart,” said Allen. “But you could tell he was troubled about it.”
Allen said the fact that one of the attackers that mentioned money owed to him also fit the description of the man in the Walmart encounter leads her to believe there may be a connection.
Allen said the eyewitnesses, the girlfriend and a girlfriend of Yocum’s cousin, did identify a potential suspect from mugshots but that nothing developed from that lead.
Allen said she is hoping that someone that may have seen something or may know something will come forth and provides the information that gives the family justice and a sense of closure.
“I would ask them to do the right thing and come forward…his mother is hurting,” said Allen. “Jimmy didn’t deserve to die that way and his mother certainly did not deserve to lose her son like that. After almost a year, the entire family is still in shock over what happened.”
If you have information on this case you can contact the Fort Smith Police Department at 479-75-4221. All calls and information will remain anonymous.