In the early morning hours of April 22, 2016, a disturbance shattered the quiet of the Cottonwood Manor Apartments in Holly Grove, Arkansas. When law enforcement arrived around 4 a.m. at the complex, located at the intersection of State Highway 17 and 86, they discovered the body of 27-year-old Robert Matthew Grant Ewans. A Black male, Ewans had been fatally wounded by gunshots.
His body was later transported to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for an official determination of the cause and manner of his death.
The investigation into the death of Robert Ewans was initiated by the Arkansas State Police. Their efforts quickly led to the identification of a suspect, 46-year-old Dale Erwin Ware of Pine Bluff. By 8 a.m. the same day, Ware was apprehended near Olive Street, north of Interstate 530. He was taken into custody and held in Monroe County in connection with the shooting.
Special agents with the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division continued to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting. While an arrest was made, the motive and the specific circumstances surrounding the incident were not immediately made public. It is unclear what charges, if any, were ultimately filed against Ware or the outcome of any legal proceedings that may have followed.
