HPD: Fincher still key in murders

Presented with a strong identification of skeletal remains found almost a year ago in Nevada County as being the body of the man Hope police have sought for two and a half years in connection with his mother’s death, a Hope Police Department investigator said Monday police believe Jon Michael Fincher murdered his mother.

Fincher, 37, of Hope, had been missing since October, 2006, when skeletal remains found in a wooded area in rural Nevada County in May, 2008, were first believed to have been his. During that period, the HPD had an open arrest warrant issued for Fincher, stemming from the September, 2006, shooting death of his mother, Donna Fincher, 58, at her Pine Street residence in Hope.

HPD Investigator Eric Green says, although the two deaths might be related, the murder of Donna Fincher is closed as to the participation of Jon Michael Fincher.
“I believe he did it,” Green said. “We had a probable cause affidavit warrant on him. It depends on how you look at it.
“His death has not ruled him out as a suspect,” he said.
Green said Monday that others may be involved.

“There may be charges filed against other people,” he said. But, he would not say to what extent that might be the case, although Green said no warrants have been issued for any other individuals in connection with Donna Fincher’s death.

The remains discovered in 2006 in Nevada County were identified through bone marrow DNA testing at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification as being those of Jon Michael Fincher, and investigators have been following leads in connection with his death since that question was answered March 30.

“The samples that we received arrived August, 2008. The final result was released to law enforcement in Arkansas on March 30, 2009,” UNT spokesperson Dana Benton Russell said Monday.
Russell said the results were conclusive.

“It was a strong match between the samples provided,” she said.
Jon Michael Fincher gave authorities a sample of his DNA in connection with the investigation into his mother’s death in 2006, and that DNA profile was used in the forensic analysis of the remains which were sent to the UNT center in Fort Worth, Texas.

Former Nevada County sheriff Bobby Carlton characterized the death of the previously unknown victim now known to be Jon Michael Fincher as a likely homicide, noting what he characterized as a gunshot wound to the head of the skull found with the remains.

With the death of the mother considered resolved, at least in part, by the death of the son, that leaves open the question of who killed the son.
Green said Monday that question is being investigated by the Arkansas State Police in conjunction with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Department.
But, he won’t discount a connection between the two killings.
“There may be some type of connection there; maybe, maybe not,” Green said.
But, he is quoted in a published report Tuesday saying he believes the two killings to be “intertwined.”

ASP Investigator Scott Clark is leading the state police investigation into Jon Michael Fincher’s death, Green said.
Clark, stationed with ASP Troop K in Arkadelphia, has been unavailable for comment locally, but he is quoted in other published reports Tuesday saying he has information regarding a possible suspect in Jon Michael Fincher’s death.

Fincher’s remains were found by a logging crew May 19, 2008,  about a half mile from a wooded area on Nevada County Road 5 where a pond had been searched by authorities in June, 2007, in connection with Fincher’s disappearance. Evidence from that earlier search had suggested the connection, according to authorities at the time.