FAULKNER COUNTY, Ark. (KTHV) - The Faulkner County Sheriff's Office made two arrests in connection to the Elvia Fragstein case.
16-year-old Robert Lee Smith Jr. and 18-year-old Tacori D Mackrell are both set to be charged as adults with kidnapping, theft of property and capital murder.
Mackrell has been in custody since Friday, July 14, on unrelated burglary and domestic battery charges.
Fragstein was last seen at a TJ Maxx in Conway on July 7, though her body was found four days later in Jefferson County.
Authorities believe Fragstein was abducted by force outside the TJ Maxx store located at Conway Commons. Investigators said she checked out at 3:42 p.m. and walked out of the store. Surveillance cameras then captured her car speeding through the parking lot.
"You reap what you sow. And, unfortunately, I hate that she had to lose her life like that. But it's just crazy how people act nowadays. I knew her, close, and it's was kinda crazy just to see her life being taken like that. Like, it's just hard to believe still," Darshan Nichols, a TJ Maxx employee, said.
Her car, a 2013 Honda CR-V with the license plate 453-TGO was found burned and dismantled near Lake Pine Bluff on July 17.
Smith and Mackrell are currently in Jefferson County awaiting transport back to Faulkner County. They will be held in the Faulkner County Detention Center awaiting a court date.
"At such a young age, that you would do something like that, like jeopardize your whole life just to take somebody else's life away. That's just sickening to me," Nichols said.
While the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office has taken the lead on the case, investigators continue to work closely with the 20th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Conway Police Department and Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.