On a tragic afternoon in Van Buren, Arkansas, the lives of a local business owner and his daughter were brutally cut short. Fifty-year-old Kenneth P. Staton, a male resident of the town, was working in his family-owned jewelry store, Staton's Jewelry Store, on September 10, 1980. As the day wound down and the store was nearing closing time, two men entered with the intention of robbing the establishment.
The events that followed turned the bustling Cloverleaf Shopping Center into a crime
scene. Kenneth and his daughter, Suzanne Ware, were bound and gagged by the assailants. In a senseless act of violence, both father and daughter were shot twice in the head. A clerk from a neighboring store discovered their bodies in the back of the jewelry shop around 6:00 p.m. Autopsies later confirmed that both victims died from close-range gunshot wounds. The robbery netted the perpetrators an estimated $100,000 worth of jewelry, watches, and cash.
The investigation into the double homicide led law enforcement to two suspects: Eugene Wallace Perry and his accomplice, Richard Phillip Anderson. Perry, who had a prior criminal history and used aliases, was identified as the mastermind behind the deadly robbery. Anderson had reportedly met Perry at a campground near Beaver Lake and agreed to participate in the crime.
Following the murders, the two men fled the state. Perry was eventually apprehended in Florida, while Anderson was captured in Canada. Their trials were held separately, resulting in convictions for both. Eugene Wallace Perry was found guilty of capital felony murder and received a death sentence. He was executed by lethal injection on August 6, 1997, maintaining his innocence until the end. Richard Phillip Anderson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his role in the heinous crime.
