Woman Given 30 Years in Mother’s Murder

By Ron Wood - NWAOnline.com

August 16, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE — A Washington County woman pleaded guilty Monday to killing her mother.

Delores Jean Eggert, 50, was sentenced to 30 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction for first-degree murder as part of a plea bargain.

Eggert, 50, beat her mother and shot her three times on June 14, 2007, and then burned the body on the family’s rural farm. She had been charged with capital murder, but it was reduced as part of the plea agreement.

“Any murder case is a terrible situation,” Washington County Circuit Judge William Storey told Eggert.

Pauline Devor was 70 when she disappeared. Her husband, Bob Devor, returned home from a business trip on June 15, 2007 to find the house burglarized and his wife gone. Several thousand dollars in bank bags and 14 guns were among the items Bob Devor reported missing.

Bob Devor was arrested Monday on a preliminary charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution. Authorities say he staged the crime scene, lied to mislead investigators, concealed evidence, gave Eggert access to cash and Pauline Devor’s vehicle and assisted her with fleeing Washington County.

“Mr. Devor made statements to a witness for the state within days of the murder of his wife acknowledging his prior knowledge of the murder and cover up of the crime after it was committed, to aid Delores Eggert in avoiding arrest and prosecution,” according to a preliminary report from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Bob Devor also had a sexual relationship with Eggert, his step-daughter, which started in 2005, according to the report.

“I’m relieved that it’s over,” Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett said. “It was going to take a long time, and it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Durrett said he does not anticipate any other arrests.

Authorities found what appeared to be bullet holes in a wall inside the Devor home, but were not able to get evidence of Devor’s death until an informant came forward.

Monica Bautista told police in 2009 that she helped Eggert plan the murder, lure Devor to the location, kill Devor and burn her body. Bautista is not being charged with a crime, according to Durrett.

Authorities using that information then found what they believe to be minuscule human remains, including charred bones and a couple of dental crowns, on the Devor farm in northwest Washington County, near Cincinnati, in April 2009.

The crowns compare favorably and are consistent with crowns known to be in Devor’s mouth, according to court documents. No other remains have been found.

According to court documents, police had at least four people who were recording phone calls or conversations with Eggert. Eggert told one woman, who was wearing a wire, that she threw some of the remains into a river.

Calls Eggert made from jail were also recorded and letters she sent from jail were seized.

Prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty in Eggert’s case. If she had been convicted of capital murder, Eggert would have receive an automatic life term without parole.

First-degree murder is punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison.

Capital Murder Trial Canceled With Guilty Plea

Off2dr.com

August 16, 2010

The capital murder trial for a Washington County woman accused beating and killing her mother was set to start Monday, but the defendant, Delores Eggert, pleaded guilty early Monday morning to first-degree murder in her mother's death.

Eggert changed her plea from not guilty to guilty, admitting she shot her mother three times, causing her death. Eggert was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Delores Eggert was accused of beating and shooting her 70-year old mother, then burning her body. Prosecutors decided last year that she won't face the death penalty.

Bob Devor, Pauline Devor's husband and Delores Eggert's stepfather, was arrested Monday and charged hindering apprehension and tampering with evidence.

Sheriff Tim Helder said, "Devor staged a crime scene in his home to try and throw investigators off." Helder also said that Bob Devor was not surprised when he was arrested and said he expected it.

Helder also said that Eggert and Bob Devor had been in a sexual relationship for at least a year before Pauline Devor was killed.

Helder said they believe the reason Pauline Devor was killed was a credit card that Eggert stole from her mother and that Eggert believed she would be prosecuted for the theft and so killed her mother to cover up the theft.

Eggert's mother, Pauline Devor, disappeared three years ago. Her remains were found in 2009 on her family's farm in northwestern Washington County.

Last year, investigators with the state crime lab said they needed more time to prepare before a capital murder trial could begin.

Prosecutors Won't Seek Death Penalty Against Eggert

NWAOnline.com

October 19, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County prosecutors won't seek the death penalty against Delores Eggert, who is charged with capital murder in the death of her mother.

Eggert, 49, is accused of beating and shooting her mother and burning the body in a rural area of Washington County.

Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett didn't cite details, but said the case was not appropriate for the death penalty.

"You don't seek the death penalty just for the sake of it," he said Monday.

With the death penalty off the table, Eggert will receive an automatic life term without parole if she's convicted of capital murder.

Pauline Devor was 70 when she disappeared in June 2007.

 Sheriff Tim Helder said in April that investigators had found charred bone fragments and other human remains in a secluded area on the Devor's farm near Cincinnati in northwest Washington County. He said Eggert told a woman, who was wearing a wire, that she threw some of the remains into a river.

Durrett said last week he feels he has plenty of evidence for a conviction without a body.

Bone fragments and other evidence have been forwarded from the Arkansas State Crime Lab to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's crime lab for further analysis. That could take anywhere from six weeks to six months, prosecutors said. Trial is set for Nov. 16, but is expected to be reset to allow evidence to be processed.

Eggert is being held at the Washington County jail without bond.

Arkansas has executed two women in the past 162 years.

Lavinia Burnett of Washington County was the first woman hanged in the state on Nov. 8, 1845. It was also the first legal hanging in Washington County.

Lavinia, along with her husband, Crawford, and their son, John, were hanged for the murder of Jonathan Selby. Selby, a bachelor who lived near Fayetteville, was murdered for money he supposedly kept at his house.

The last woman executed by the state was Christina Marie Riggs, 28, who asked for the death penalty for drugging and suffocating her two children in 1996 at her home in Sherwood. She was executed by lethal injection May 2, 2000.

Missing woman found slain; daughter is held

By Adam Wallworth - Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE - A Siloam Springs woman charged in the death of her mother nearly two years ago is in the Washington County jail on suicide watch.

Delores Eggert, 49, was booked into jail Sunday in the death of Pauline Devor, 70. Devor disappeared in June 2007 and was considered missing until Eggert's arrest.

Eggert is being held without bond. Deputies received a tip Friday that she had overdosed on pills and was at the home of her stepfather, Bob Devor, in northwest Washington County. After finding Eggert there, they rushed her to Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital.

"If we hadn't intervened, she would have died," said Dallas McClellan, Washington County sheriff's enforcement captain.

On April 13, a female witness told deputies of helping Eggert burn Devor's body "several times," Sheriff Tim Helder said during a news conference Monday.

The witness told police that Eggert hit her mother in the head with a tire iron, then shot her on the family's property at 22465 Arkansas 244, north of the Cincinnati community. The two then burned the body before returning to remove personal items, which were thrown into a river, Helder said.

Teeth and bone fragments were scattered throughout an area on the Devor's 720-acre ranch, Helder said. He said the witness claimed that Eggert asked for help in killing Devor about a week before she was reported missing.

The remains were recovered with help from the University of Arkansas Archeological Survey, Helder said.

McClellan said the search for evidence continues.

"We've had a backhoe running 12 hours a day for four days," McClellan said.

The witness said in an April 13 interview that Eggert acknowledged throwing her mother's items off a bridge, said Helder, reading from court records. He said Eggert told the witness she was ready to flee the area and urged the witness not to change her story, saying "she was not going to spend the rest of her life in jail."

The investigation is continuing and more arrests could be made, Helder said. The victim's husband, Bob Devor, is not a suspect, he said.

Helder gave few details of Devor's final moments during the news conference, where he was flanked by Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Threet and Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durret.

Threet said it is too soon to decide whether to seek the death penalty. He also declined to offer a motive.

Helder said he is not aware of deputies ever being called to the Devor home, but authorities suspect that Eggert and her mother had arguments over money.

"I think this is what the rub was initially," Helder said.

Devor was reported missing on June 15, 2007, by her husband. Bob Devor told deputies he returned from a business trip and found their rural home burglarized and damaged by gunfire. Bank bags and guns were among items reported missing.

According to court records, on the morning that her mother was reported missing, Eggert had taken the guns to a friend's house. Two days later, the friend called police and said he had the guns after hearing reports they were missing from the Devor house.

Eggert moved in with Bob Devor a week after Pauline Devor disappeared. The Devors had been married about 20 years, McClellan said.

McClellan said deputies never believed the house had been burglarized. He wouldn't go into detail but said factors such as the house being shot made the burglary appear staged.

Helder said Devor's immediate family hadn't expressed the level of concern common in missing-person cases.

Sheriff Arrests Missing Woman's Daughter

MWANews,com

April 21, 2009

WASHINGTON COUNTY - A woman told police that she and Delores Eggert lured Eggert's mother, Pauline Devor, to a secluded spot on the Devor family's 720-acre ranch near Cincinnati, Ark., before Eggert hit her mother over the head with a tire iron and shot her. Then, the pair burned the body before dumping evidence over a bridge and into water.

The unidentified witness gave this grisly account to Washington County Sheriff's Office investigators last week. She led them to an area where human remains were found April 14, Sheriff Tim Helder said in a press conference Monday to announce Eggert's arrest.

Eggert, 49, of Siloam Springs, was arrested Friday and faces a capital-murder charge.

She tried to kill herself at the Devor home prior to her arrest, Helder said. That was after the witness had led investigators to the location on the massive Devor farm, at 22465 Arkansas Highway 244 in Cincinnati.

Pauline Devor, 72, was reported missing on June 15, 2007, by her husband, Bob Devor.

Helder said Monday that while it was a sad day because Devor was killed, "it is satisfying in a sense that a lot of hard work by our deputies has definitely paid off."

Eggert is being held in the Washington County Detention Center without bond. Her arraignment is set for May 18, and charges should be filed shortly before that date, said Matt Durrett, Washington County chief deputy prosecutor.

Durrett would not comment on whether other people of interest would be arrested and charged with crimes. Helder said a few people remain persons of interest in the case, including Bob Devor and the witness who came forward last week.

Bob Devor told the Sheriff's Office on June 15, 2007, that he had just returned home after being gone for several days and found his home had been burglarized and his wife was missing.

He said several items were missing from the house, including three bank bags containing cash, and several firearms. Helder said he had not heard from his wife since the morning of June 14, 2007.

On June 17 of that year, a witness reported to the Washington County Sheriff's Office that Eggert had brought numerous firearms to his home on the morning of June 15 and had asked him to keep them. Eggert had told this witness that her mother was missing, and her mother's home had been burglar- ized, Helder said.

Eggert also told this witness that cash had been taken from the home. She said the firearms belonged to Bob Devor, and he did not want them around the house, Helder said.

About a week after the disappearance of Pauline Devor, Eggert moved into her mother's home with Bob Devor. Over the next 22 months, the Sheriff's Office received and followed up on several leads into the woman's disappearance, none of which indicated she was alive or had been since her disappearance, Helder said.

Helder would not say what prompted the female witness to come forward with information, only that sheriff's deputies interviewed her on April 13.

She told them that Eggert had approached her about a week prior to Devor's disappearance and asked her for her help in killing Eggert's mother, Helder said.

The female witness told deputies that on June 14, 2007, the two lured Devor to a secluded spot on the Devor farm, and Eggert killed her. The witness told deputies that she and Eggert then burned the body.

They later returned to where the body had been burned and gathered up items of evidence. They placed these items into a cup and drove to a bridge, where they threw the cup, along with the items, into the water, Helder said.

Following her statement, the witness contacted Eggert, who agreed to meet with her later in the evening on April 13. The Sheriff's Office equipped the witness with a recording device and monitored the prearranged meeting.

During the course of the conversation, Helder said, Eggert acknowledged throwing the items off the bridge. She urged the witness not to change her story and implied she (Eggert) was prepared to flee the jurisdiction if it appeared she would be arrested, Helder said. Eggert said she was not going to spend the rest of her life in jail.

On April 14, the Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant on the Devor farm. The witness pointed out to detectives where Pauline Devor had been killed, along with where the body had been burned, Helder said.

During the course of the search over the following days, detectives found human remains in and around the burned area.

On Friday, the Sheriff's Office received a call from an acquaintance of Eggert's who was concerned that Eggert had possibly overdosed on pills in an attempt to commit suicide. Shortly after the call, detectives found Eggert in her mother's home at the Devor farm, Helder said.

Eggert had taken an undetermined number of pills, according to Helder's statement Monday. She was taken by ambulance to Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital, where she was placed under arrest by officers with the Siloam Springs Police Department on a charge of capital murder.

A hold on Eggert was placed by the Washington County Sheriff's Office, and upon Eggert's release from the hospital, she was taken to the Washington County Detention Center, where she was booked.

McClellan said that with every lead investigators followed up on, they never got an indication that Devor was simply missing.

"That wasn't her nature," he said.

He also talked about bullet holes in the wall of the Devor home that investigators noticed when they arrived to probe what had been reported as a burglary.

"We knew it was staged the minute we pulled up," McClellan said. "It didn't make any sense. It was too staged."

Threet commended the Sheriff's Office for not letting up on the investigation for two years.

"They did a tremendous job," he said.

Helder described Devor's family members as uncooperative in the investigation and that it seemed that only concerned residents and law enforcement cared about her disappearance. Other than that, he said, there was a nonchalant attitude on the part of her family members.

They were not calling all the time asking, "Where's my mom? Where's my wife?" Helder said.

While neither the Prosecutor's Office nor Helder would specify a motive for the murder at this point, Helder said it is believed there were problems between Eggert and her mother concerning finances.

"Something to do with finances," he said, adding that he thinks it might have been over a credit-card issue.

Helder, too, commended Sheriff's Office investigators for their work on the case, saying they never gave up, always with the belief that the case would be a recovery.

He also thanked the Arkansas Archeological Survey for helping identify the remains on the scene of the crime as being from a human.

Fayetteville cold case turned murder investigation

Mary Marsh Reporter - KFSM.com

April 20, 2009

SILOAM SPRINGS - The prime suspect in a Siloam Springs cold case turned murder investigation is awaiting trial, after her arrest from a Siloam Springs hospital.

70-year-old Pauline Devor has been missing for two years now, with few leads, but authorities say Devor's daughter, 49-year-old Delores Jean Eggert, is now a prime suspect.

Authorities say they arrested Eggert from a Siloam Springs hospital Sunday on capitol murder charges.

Devor was a Cincinnati, Arkansas woman, missing for two years, and detectives say until now, leads on this cold case had dried up.

Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder says they never gave up searching for Devor. "They have dogged this thing to the bitter end and have never given up."

Now detectives say a witness has come forward concerning her involvement in Devor's murder. The witness reportedly says two years ago, she and Eggert lured Devor to a remote spot on the Devor Ranch, and killed her. Helder relates, "Eggert struck Pauline with a tire iron and shot her. Then witness stated she and Eggert then burned the body."

In June 2007, a different witness reportedly told police Eggert brought firearms belonging to Pauline's husband, Bob Devor, to his house.

According to investigators, the witness said Eggert asked him to keep them, saying her mother was gone, her home had been burglarized, and cash was missing. Police say Devor's husband gave them the same report that his wife and cash were missing when he returned home from a business trip. Helder says now, Bob Devor is a person of interest. "We didn't receive a lot of calls as you would normally, from family saying hey what are ya'll doing on this case? Where's my mom where's my wife - we weren't getting any of that."

In Siloam Springs, detectives and a UA archaeology team searching the Devor's 720-acre ranch found human bone fragments and teeth. Captain Dallas McClellan of the Washington County Sheriff's Office says, "things that we may not be able to identify, they can identify as far as human bone, and be able to tell us the difference between human and animal." In a taped conversation with the witness, Helder says Eggert admitted to throwing Devor's remains over a bridge. "After they burned the body numerous times to do away with the remains they sifted through and found what they could to do away with all the evidence."

Sheriff's officials say making headway in this case marks a major victory, but a sober one. Helder sums up: "it's just a sad day she wasn't found alive. Any time you're dealing with family involved in a homicide, it just makes it that much more disturbing."

Authorities say this investigation is ongoing. Right now, the witness has not been arrested or charged, but Eggert is being held in the Washington County Detention Center without bond.

Authorities say Eggert was had been taken to the Siloam Springs hospital for reportedly overdosing on pills. They say she had been trying to commit suicide.

Eggert's trial date is set for May 18th.

Devor Gets Ten Years for Covering Up Wife's Murder

By Amanda Ashley - NWAhomepage.com

February 25, 2011

A Washington County man was sentenced today for helping cover-up his wife's murder.

A judge sentenced Bob Devor to ten years behind bars and a $15,000 fine.

Devor was found guilty in January of hindering apprehension or prosecution. Last august, Devor's step-daughter, Delores Eggert, pleaded guilty to first degree murder for the death of her mom, Pauline Devor.

Bob Devor gave Eggert some cash and staged the original crime scene to mislead authorities.

Devor's attorneys have filed an appeal to have him released on bond pending an appellate trial.