On a tragic evening in Hazen, Arkansas, the life of 64-year-old James Randal Turner Sr. was cut short in an act of violence that also claimed the lives of his wife and daughter. A white male, James Turner was a resident of Hazen, born on September 19, 1957. The fatal incident unfolded on Friday, March 4, 2022, outside their family home located at 604 U.S. Highway 63.
The tranquility of the night was shattered around 9:30 p.m.
by a shooting that left James Turner, his 62-year-old wife Amanda Turner, and their 46-year-old daughter, Mirranda Munnerlyn, dead from gunshot wounds. The Hazen Police Department was dispatched to the residence at 9:39 p.m. and discovered the three victims. The Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division was subsequently called in to lead the homicide investigation.
As law enforcement responded to the scene, they received information about a suspect traveling in a pickup truck along U.S. Highway 63. Officers intercepted the vehicle and arrested the driver, 50-year-old Michael Munnerlyn of Carlisle, Arkansas. Munnerlyn was identified as the husband of Mirranda Munnerlyn and was taken into custody in connection with the three deaths.
Special agents with the state police worked through the night, collecting evidence from the crime scene and interviewing individuals familiar with the family to piece together the circumstances that led to the deadly shooting. The bodies of James Turner, Amanda Turner, and Mirranda Munnerlyn were sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for examination to determine the official cause and manner of death. The case file was to be handed over to the Prairie County prosecuting attorney for further legal proceedings.
