‘Do it, shoot her.’ Police say woman was ordered to kill victim or watch her kids die.
A man charged with raping several women in Pulaski County also allegedly threatened to kill one woman’s children in order to force her to commit a murder, a detective testified Wednesday.
The testimony came at a preliminary hearing for Danelle N. Powell, who is charged with murder in the death of LeeAnna Brumley.
Brumley, who was 26 and reportedly had a son, had been missing since May when investigators found burned bones earlier this month that are believed to be her remains.
The remains have not yet been positively identified, Det. Lt. Bobby Jones, who is handling the case for the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, said in court.
Jones said Powell and Brumley had been staying with a man named Gerald Avalon Hendricks at his home near Science Hill before Brumley disappeared.
Jones said police have heard about alleged drug use at the house, including Hendricks giving women horse tranquilizers.
Powell told police that in late May, Brumley was sick. Powell was afraid Brumley had overdosed on drugs and wanted to take her to the hospital, Jones said.
However, Hendricks wouldn’t allow that, and instead had someone else take Brumley away in a pickup truck, Jones testified in recounting what Powell had said.
Powell told police that soon after, Hendricks took her to a farm and Brumley was there with a man named Corky Hendricks, who is related to Gerald Hendricks.
Powell told police Gerald Hendricks then put a shotgun against her head, gave her a sawed-off shotgun, and told her if she didn’t shoot Brumley he would kill Powell’s children in front of her and then kill her, Jones testified.
Powell has three children.
Powell told police she shot Brumley and fell down, knocked backwards by the recoil of the shotgun.
Powell said Gerald and Corky Hendricks rolled up Brumley’s body in a rug and used a utility trailer to take the body to Corky Hendricks’ house.
Gerald Hendricks hit Brumley in the head with a hatchet and then the men burned the body, Powell told police.
Jones said police don’t know why Hendricks allegedly wanted Brumley dead.
Jones testified that Corky Hendricks did not tell police he saw Gerald Hendricks with a shotgun.
However, he did say he saw Powell with a gun and heard Gerald Hendricks order her to shoot Brumley, Jones said.
“‘Do it, shoot her, it’s time,’ something to that effect,” is what Hendricks allegedly said, Jones testified.
Powell told police she went with Gerald Hendricks to his house and passed out for some period of time. When she came to, she saw him burning Brumley’s belongings in a barrel outside.
She became afraid for her safety and ran and hid in the woods until she felt it was safe to leave, Jones said.
Police interviewed her a few days later.
District Judge Jeffrey Scott Lawless ruled after Jones’ testimony that there was probable cause to believe she killed Brumley and forwarded her case to the grand jury.
He set her bond at $500,000 cash or $1 million in property.
Gerald Hendricks, 53, was indicted in August on three charges of kidnapping adults, three charges of first-degree rape and on a charge of sodomy.
He and Corky Hendricks have not been charged in connection with Brumley’s disappearance or murder, but police plan to seek indictments against them.
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 4:23 PM.
