UPDATED---DEVELOPING: Husband And Wife Arrested In Helmlinger Murder:

Evin Davis Jr. (mug shot above)

Melissa Irene Davis Mug Shot:

Updated November 2, 2009:

Two people have been arrested for the murder of twenty four year-old Chris Helmlinger of Berrville, Arkansas.

Chris Helmlinger (family photo)

Authorities say that Helmlinger went missing on Sunday September 27th after leaving his mother Karla Davis' Berryville home on foot.


His mother allegedly told cops on October 4th that her son was headed to his grandmother, Betty Davis', house where he lived a few miles away.

However, Betty Davis, 78, says that her grandson left her house for Sunday school in his car early that morning. Mrs. Davis says, "I got a call from Car-Mart on Monday morning saying that they found my grandsons car with the keys in the ignition in a back lot.....but he was no where around."

Mrs. Davis says that she tried to get the Berryville police department to help her find her grandson but says, "they told me that they couldn't help me because of his age."



In fact, she says one Berryville police officer--Walker--yelled at her on the phone when she became hysterical in her quest for help. Davis says that Walker told her, "shut up...or I'll hang the phone up and not help you."

Mrs. Davis says that only after she called her local radio station and told them the story did she get any help from cops. That help initially came from Carroll County Sheriff Bob Grudek.



Davis says that after Grudek and his deputies began to help her the Berryville police department started helping her as well.

Helmlinger's body was discovered in a shallow grave near the Glen Echoes trailer park on October 18th....three weeks to the day that he went missing.


Authorities say that a resident of the park stumbled across a "strange mound" of dirt and called police.....a shovel was found nearby. Mrs. Davis says that police have told her that Chris was shot.

Intake reports from the Carroll County jail show that Melissa Irene Davis, 37, Berryville, was taken into custody on Friday (10-30-09) for capital murder and hindering prosecution. She told cops where they would find her husband, Evin Davis Jr.

Law enforcers say that Davis Jr., turned himself in to authorities in McCallen, Texas (Hidalgo County) on charges of capital murder and tampering with a motor vehicle over the weekend.

Sources say, and Mrs. Davis confirms, that someone gave Helmlinger $5,000 shortly before he died. "I have the bank statement, there's still about $4,500 in the account. I believe someone killed him because they wanted the money," she says.

Some people say that the money came from a woman who attended Helmlinger's church who gave him the money because she thought he had potential to become a minister and, "because God told her to."


There are also reports that someone logged in to Helmlinger's FaceBook account on October 3rd.

So, where was Chris Helmlinger from September 27th until October 3rd? Was it him or his killer/s that logged into his FaceBook account and accepted a friend request on October 3rd?

There are a lot of questions that can't be answered over the weekend when you can't get authorities to return your phone call....like have cops traced the IP address used to log into Helmlinger's account to help them solve this mystery?


Mrs. Davis says that Berryville cops told her last Friday (10-30-09) that they were going to serve a search warrant on a house that they believed could help them in their search for Chris Helmlinger's murderer/s.


What came of that search warrant....another question that will have to wait to be answered later because the probable cause statements and arrest affidavits for Melissa and Evin Davis have been sealed by the court.

****Echo Park Trailer Park Image KY-3