CAMDEN — Human remains found, ID’d as ex-police officer
PEA RIDGE — The remains of a former Pea Ridge police officer who went missing a decade ago have been found in Mason City, Iowa, officials said.
Cerilla Ann Doyle’s bones were positively identified through DNA and dental records, Doyle’s daughter, Danielle Doyle, said on Tuesday. She said she was notified late Monday by a detective with the Bentonville Police Department.
“Honestly, I was hoping they would find her alive,” Danielle Doyle said. “They said they found the bones, and it looked like she had been there about five to 10 years.”
Cerilla Doyle, known for years in Pea Ridge as “Officer Friendly,” was reported missing in October 2008. In April 2018, her family asked to have her declared dead. She worked for the Pea Ridge Police Department for nearly 13 years before her retirement Aug. 8, 2008. Both Cerilla Doyle and her daughter lived in Bentonville.
Danielle Doyle reported her mother missing to the Bentonville Police Department and said she last talked with her mother the morning of Oct. 27, 2008.
She said she returned home from work and found her mother’s two vehicles parked in the backyard. Her mother left the title to one of the vehicles, a power of attorney and a check made out for $27,067 to her daughter, according to court documents.
“I’m deeply saddened at the outcome, but glad for the family that they finally have resolve to this situation,” former Pea Ridge Police Chief Tim Ledbetter said.
Ark. cop is suspended over an ‘insensitive’ post
JONESBORO - An Arkansas police officer has been suspended without pay for 30 days after an internal investigation found that he had violated his department’s social media policy with an “insensitive” post, authorities said Tuesday.
According to a news release from the Jonesboro Police Department, the post on officer John Shipman’s personal Facebook page concerned “current media coverage of a national news event.”
NEA Report, a news outlet based in northeast Arkansas, posted screenshots showing Shipman asserted that “80 percent are false,” referring to rape accusations. His Thursday comment was in response to a post about Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony at a hearing where she said U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, according to the outlet.
In another screenshot posted by NEA Report, Shipman wrote: “I’ve taken many reports. She’s lying.”
A complaint about Shipman’s post was made Friday, authorities said.
The Police Department said the internal investigation examined the five sexual assault reports
Shipman had recorded in the last 10 years. Four of the cases were reported rapes and were eventually turned over to detectives to investigate, according to the release.
“Law enforcement employees bear the responsibility of maintaining their own conduct and the integrity of the government entity they represent,” Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott said in a statement. “They are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that does not bring discredit upon them.”
In addition to his suspension, Shipman will undergo “further training” to learn how to speak with sexual assault victims, the release states.