In the small town of Waldo, Arkansas, a tragic event unfolded on a Tuesday in early August of 2019, forever altering the lives of a local family and shaking the community. On August 6th, the body of 31-year-old Stanley LeVon Milner Sr., a male resident of Waldo, was discovered lying in the roadway in the 700 block of North Locust Street. It was shortly before noon when the Waldo Police Chief, responding to a call, made the grim discovery. Mr. Milner had sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and the scene painted a somber picture of a life cut short by violence. He was a father to two sons, TaMarion Crockett and Stanley Milner Jr., and was remembered by his family as a loving father, brother, and uncle.
The investigation into the death of Stanley Milner Sr. quickly became a collaborative effort involving several law enforcement agencies. The Waldo Police Department worked alongside the Magnolia Police Department, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Taylor Police Department to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting. Their combined efforts soon pointed to a primary suspect, another Waldo resident named Mario D. Easter, who was 39 years old at the time. The search for Easter culminated in his apprehension during a traffic stop in the nearby city of Magnolia in the early morning hours of August 7th, less than a day after Mr. Milner's body was found.
Following his arrest, Mario D. Easter was charged with capital murder and possession of a firearm by certain persons. He was subsequently held without bond at the Columbia County Detention Center. The investigation also led to the arrest of three other individuals in connection with the case. Roosevelt Easter, 60, Janice Easter, 59, and Billie James McBride, 69, were all taken into custody on charges of tampering with evidence. Each of these three individuals was held on a $250,000 bond. At the time of their arrests, authorities did not immediately clarify if these charges were directly related to the homicide investigation of Stanley LeVon Milner Sr., leaving the community to grapple with the loss and the unsettling details that continued to emerge.
