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Authorities here say Donald Hux entered 51-year-old Sandy Huckabee’s residence and shot him point-blank with a 12-gauge shotgun, an Arkansas State Crime Laboratory autopsy revealed Monday afternoon.
Arkadelphia police, who are slowly releasing additional details about Sunday’s homicide, say the murder took place Sunday around 3 a.m.
Police say Hux, 36, then walked Amy Huckabee, who was Sandy’s wife and Hux’s ex-wife, and the former couple’s three children to his vehicle and drove them to his parents’ home in Union County.
He left the children there shortly before 6 a.m. The children were unharmed, police said.
Hux’s father called the Union County Sheriff’s Office, which, in turn, notified the Arkadelphia Police Department, and reported that he believed Hux may have harmed Huckabee.
At 6:15 a.m., Arkadelphia officers responded to Huckabee’s home at 2304 Forrest Park Drive and found his body on the kitchen floor.
Investigators said there were no signs that Hux forced his way into the residence; the doors to the residence were locked when police arrived, and that there were no signs of a struggle inside the home. Police say they talked to at least a dozen neighbors, and that no one reported hearing anything unusual in the neighborhood.
What happened to Amy Huckabee between the time of her abduction and Sunday evening is not known.
An hours-long manhunt had authorities looking for Hux’s tan-colored vehicle, but authorities reportedly spotted it on a gravel road in southern Union County. That’s when police allegedly witnessed Hux shoot Amy Huckabee twice.
Hux and Amy Huckabee's bodies were sent to the Crime Lab as well. Results from those autopsies were not known at press time.
Asked if police attempted to make contact with Hux during Sunday’s manhunt, APD criminal investigator Sgt. Roy Bethell said there “was no way to contact him.”
Bethell said a warrant was issued for Hux on Sunday morning. He was wanted on charges of capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated residential burglary and illegal possession of a firearm.
Bethell added, “We were tracking her phone, had flagged her financial records and put out numerous BOLOs (Be On the Look Out) with the vehicle description throughout Arkansas and surrounding states.”
Meanwhile, authorities in Union County endured severe weather while looking for Hux and Amy Huckabee — at one point, an airplane was assigned to the skies in search of the two.
Ten additional deputies in Union County were called in to aid in the search, Bethell reported, and he said the inclement weather apparently kept the Arkansas State Police from launching a search helicopter.
Back in Arkadelphia, police collected evidence from the Huckabee residence, though investigators remained tight-lipped about what evidence they collected.
“We don’t know where [Hux] got the gun,” Bethell said. “There was no gun left at the scene; there were no guns anywhere inside the house.”
Also unknown at press time was Hux’s motive for the kidnapping-murder.
Hux was wanted in Clark County for charges of harassment stemming from complaints from Amy Huckabee, who reported in August that Hux had been mailing her threatening letters while he was incarcerated in a Texas county jail.
All Arkadelphia police know about Hux is that he had a criminal background, Bethell said.
Hux had been freed from a county jail on Thursday; he was being held for an aggravated rape charge in connection with the alleged rape of a woman at gunpoint near a Shreveport gas station in 2010. He had also been in custody for similar charges in Lubbock, Texas.
Bethell said authorities have interviewed the three children to determine what happened, but said details from those interviews “probably” will not be released.
Bethell said Hux had no local ties to Arkadelphia other than his children.
Sandy Huckabee's father is the first cousin of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Sandy Huckabee was a former resident of Hope and graduate of Hope High School.
Authorities here say Donald Hux entered 51-year-old Sandy Huckabee’s residence and shot him point-blank with a 12-gauge shotgun, an Arkansas State Crime Laboratory autopsy revealed Monday afternoon.
Arkadelphia police, who are slowly releasing additional details about Sunday’s homicide, say the murder took place Sunday around 3 a.m.
Police say Hux, 36, then walked Amy Huckabee, who was Sandy’s wife and Hux’s ex-wife, and the former couple’s three children to his vehicle and drove them to his parents’ home in Union County.
He left the children there shortly before 6 a.m. The children were unharmed, police said.
Hux’s father called the Union County Sheriff’s Office, which, in turn, notified the Arkadelphia Police Department, and reported that he believed Hux may have harmed Huckabee.
At 6:15 a.m., Arkadelphia officers responded to Huckabee’s home at 2304 Forrest Park Drive and found his body on the kitchen floor.
Investigators said there were no signs that Hux forced his way into the residence; the doors to the residence were locked when police arrived, and that there were no signs of a struggle inside the home. Police say they talked to at least a dozen neighbors, and that no one reported hearing anything unusual in the neighborhood.
What happened to Amy Huckabee between the time of her abduction and Sunday evening is not known.
An hours-long manhunt had authorities looking for Hux’s tan-colored vehicle, but authorities reportedly spotted it on a gravel road in southern Union County. That’s when police allegedly witnessed Hux shoot Amy Huckabee twice.
Hux and Amy Huckabee's bodies were sent to the Crime Lab as well. Results from those autopsies were not known at press time.
Asked if police attempted to make contact with Hux during Sunday’s manhunt, APD criminal investigator Sgt. Roy Bethell said there “was no way to contact him.”
Bethell said a warrant was issued for Hux on Sunday morning. He was wanted on charges of capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated residential burglary and illegal possession of a firearm.
Bethell added, “We were tracking her phone, had flagged her financial records and put out numerous BOLOs (Be On the Look Out) with the vehicle description throughout Arkansas and surrounding states.”
Meanwhile, authorities in Union County endured severe weather while looking for Hux and Amy Huckabee — at one point, an airplane was assigned to the skies in search of the two.
Ten additional deputies in Union County were called in to aid in the search, Bethell reported, and he said the inclement weather apparently kept the Arkansas State Police from launching a search helicopter.
Back in Arkadelphia, police collected evidence from the Huckabee residence, though investigators remained tight-lipped about what evidence they collected.
“We don’t know where [Hux] got the gun,” Bethell said. “There was no gun left at the scene; there were no guns anywhere inside the house.”
Also unknown at press time was Hux’s motive for the kidnapping-murder.
Hux was wanted in Clark County for charges of harassment stemming from complaints from Amy Huckabee, who reported in August that Hux had been mailing her threatening letters while he was incarcerated in a Texas county jail.
All Arkadelphia police know about Hux is that he had a criminal background, Bethell said.
Hux had been freed from a county jail on Thursday; he was being held for an aggravated rape charge in connection with the alleged rape of a woman at gunpoint near a Shreveport gas station in 2010. He had also been in custody for similar charges in Lubbock, Texas.
Bethell said authorities have interviewed the three children to determine what happened, but said details from those interviews “probably” will not be released.
Bethell said Hux had no local ties to Arkadelphia other than his children.
Sandy Huckabee's father is the first cousin of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Sandy Huckabee was a former resident of Hope and graduate of Hope High School.
