News

THIRD SUSPECT CHARGED IN 2007 HOMICIDE

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:29 AM CDT

Following an investigation that lasted more than two years, a third suspect has been charged with the shooting death of a Pine Bluff man in 2007.

On Tuesday, Prosecuting Attorney Steve Dalrymple charged Eureka Darnell Hopson, 31, of Milwaukee with first-degree murder in the death of Darrayl Donson, 41, whose body was found inside a house at 1520 W. 18th Ave., after officers responded to a report of gunshots in the area of 18th Avenue and Plum Street on Sept. 19, 2007.

Donson was pronounced dead at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body, a police report at the time said.

In January, Victor Vilkoski, 34, of Milwaukee and Marletha Roshel Rankins, 22, formerly of Pine Bluff, were also charged with the death of Donson, and prosecutors said at that time they were looking for a third suspect who had not been identified.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Kyle Hunter said when the charges were filed that witnesses at the scene, cell phone records and other witnesses allowed prosecutors to identify Vilkoski and Rankins as suspects.

“Additional evidence was developed that allowed us to be able to make this charge against Hopson also,” Prosecuting Attorney Steve Dalrymple said, adding that the trial of Vilkoski and Rankins, which was scheduled to have started Monday, will now be continued.

“We’ve initiated extradition proceedings against Hopson but obviously it will take us a while to get him back here and processed,” Dalrymple said.

Vilkoski and Rankins were arrested in Milwaukee by members of the U.S. Marshal’s Service Fugitive Task Force, which included ATF agents, members of the Milwaukee Police Department and Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department on Feb. 24. They were brought back to Jefferson County May 4 after the governor of Wisconsin signed a governor’s warrant ordering them returned to Arkansas to face the charges.

They are being held at the county detention center on bonds of $1 million each.

Dalrymple said Hopson is currently in the Milwaukee County jail where he is being held on drug related charges in that city, and Jefferson County authorities have placed a hold on him on the murder charge.

When he is returned to Arkansas, Hopson will also be subject to a $1 million bond.

Print this story   |   Email this story