MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 17-year-old is now charged with a triple homicide in St. Francis County, Arkansas.
The Saint Francis County Sheriff's Office said Thursday Jonathan Rolfe is charged with shooting and killing three people - his mom Shalanda Barton, another man Ja’Terrance Wright, and Barton's daughter, 12-year-old Kelsie Thompson, in November 2022.
St. Francis County Sheriff Bobby May told ABC24 previously they received a call from the grandmother about 1:45 a.m. Nov. 27, 2022, to do a welfare check at the home in the 500 block of Gore in Crow Creek in Madison, Arkansas, just outside of Forrest City. At that time, May said deputies found a man and woman and a girl shot to death.
Investigators said Barton's black Cadillac was found not far from the home of Rolfe's girlfriend, and they said he had the key fob in his possession.
Rolfe was arrested Feb. 7 and charged with three counts of capital murder and one count of theft of property.
“It was absolutely cold-blooded murder,” Sheriff May said during a news conference Thursday.
Sheriff May said Rolfe will be 18 in May, and he is charged as an adult but currently in custody at a juvenile facility in Jonesboro. He was ordered held without bond.
Clarice Jackson, a relative of Wright’s, told reporters during the news conference, “It’s been really hard not knowing who the person was that accosted Ja’Terrance and the other decedents in this case, and not knowing if the person was next to us… or if the community at large was still at risk.”