Affidavit: Suspect ‘confessed’ to fatally shooting Rector man

CLAY COUNTY, Ark. (KAIT) - Police say a Dexter man arrested in connection with the murder of a Rector man earlier this week “confessed” to the shooting.

Missouri police officers arrested 30-year-old Heath Hunsaker of Dexter on a bench warrant for the Tuesday night murder of 35-year-old Matthew Hale.

According to court documents released Friday, Clay County sheriff’s deputies found Hale’s body face down in the grass near the side entry of his home on Highway 49, just east of Rector.

Sheriff Terry Miller said it appeared he had been shot several times.

The affidavit stated deputies found numerous shell cases near his body.

On Wednesday, Arkansas State Police received information from witnesses in Kennett regarding the murder.

Following interviews with the witnesses, investigators identified Hunsaker “as the person responsible for the murder.”

On Thursday, a judge issued a warrant for Hunsaker’s arrest. ASP agents, assisted by officers with the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s (MOHP) Division of Drug and Crime Control, arrested Hunsaker in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

During an interview at MOHP headquarters in Butler County, the affidavit stated Hunsaker “confessed to shooting and murdering the victim.”

The court documents stated Hunsaker’s confession was “consistent with injuries to the victim and other evidence located at the crime scene.”

The report did not provide a motive for the alleged shooting.

Following Hunsaker’s interview, ASP and MOHP investigators reportedly recovered the murder weapon along with additional evidence connected to the case at various locations.

Hunsaker was extradited back to Arkansas where he is being held without bond in the Greene County Detention Center on a charge of first-degree murder awaiting his first appearance in court on Monday, March 14.

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