Chastain Charged With First Degree Murder In Girlfriends Death:

A man accused in the shooting death of his girlfriend is being arraigned this morning in Boone County, Arkansas on first-degree murder charges.

Authorities write in the probable cause statement filed with charges against Ernest Doyle Chastain Jr., that allegedly shot Susan "Susie" Powers once in the chest after she threw a glass of whiskey in his face during a fight.

Investigators say that Chastain told his mother that Powers was suffering and cussing him so he shot her twice in the head and then covered her body with an Indian blanket.

Cops found Powers dead under a blanket in her home on the southern tip of Table Rock Lake near Omaha on Tuesday after Chastain's mother, Barbara Burk, who lives in Hollister, MO., called them and told them that Powers was dead. When Chastain dropped some of Powers pets of to his mother for safekeeping he said, "Momma, I really killed her."

Cops had been looking for Chastain and a red S-U-V taken from Powers home for about a day and a half before they got a lucky break.

Deputies caught up with Chastain after a viewer of a KY3 news broadcast Wednesday night alerted the manager of the Shoals Motel in Galena, MO, informing her that he believed he had gotten directions from the man police were looking for who was also staying at the motel.

Stone County authorities took Chastain into custody a little after 7 a.m. yesterday (05-21-09) as he was returning to the stolen S-U-V.

In addition to the murder charges, Chastain has been charged with possession of a firearm by certain individuals and felony with a firearm.

He is being held on two million dollars bond in the Boone County, Arkansas jail.