Hey there, folks. That's July twenty eighth, and a manhunt is underway for a double murderer who killed a couple while they were on a hike with their two young children. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Rohlds. This is a shocking story about a double murder. The detail about the kids now makes this just horrific in an all new way. And to think that person right now is on the run.
He is on the run. There is a massive manhunt underway in northwest Arkansas. This happened at a state park, Devil's Den State Park in northwest Arkansas. It's about what thirty minutes from Fayetteville, if.
Anybody knows northwest Arkansas, the Ozarks, all that mountainous region up there. But yeah, there's a lot of this terrain, but it's beautiful and people go hiking and.
Yeah, gorgeous hiking. I mean, for anyone who's listening, who has I mean, I love hiking, grew up hiking, took my kids hiking. It's a safe place. You feel peace, you feel calm, you're surrounded by nature. So this is just a horror movie, truly isolated, a horror.
Movie, right isn't that horror of it? You kind of get away from people.
Correct, and you know, this is an area and it's we'll talk about it. But part of the details, part of the problem with getting the word out about what had happened, was there is no cell phone service in these rugged areas and so but that is part of the draw and the beauty. You're not hooked on your device, you're not getting those emails or those annoying texture with your family, or you're with your dog or with your you know, by yourself, just experiencing nature and being removed
from all the chaos. And this was a Saturday afternoon, a beautiful day to hike with your family. I would feel so safe.
And I think it's again your family. This was two about two thirty in the afternoon. All that's going on, and the kids are seven and nine, Like imagine the horror. Now seven and nine year olds. We're with them, and still no explanation. Again, we don't have a lot of details from the police, no explanation, And I can't make sense of that. Maybe we never will. We're always trying to make sense. But why why attack these folks and the kids are there? And then the kids end up.
Unharmed, yes, and we haven't gotten a lot of details, but there was a report from one of the local affiliates there who said the kids ended up somehow, some way at the visitor center, which is pretty remarkable. I don't know if someone guided them there, if they found
their way back there. But when the nine to one to one call was made from the visitor center two police, they said, I've got two kids here and they say their parents have been attacked and they're missing, and so we do and we did get that little bit of detail, but the kids were completely unharmed, scared as you can only imagine.
Yeah, you can only imagine. Again, I don't know how far. I'm curious. It would be curious to know at some point how much ground they had to cover, like how far they had to go and how far they had to run, And if they made it back to the visitor center, then all likelihood they didn't see anybody because they would have stopped it, of course they would have seen. So how far did they have to go to make their way back?
I mean, it's just they have talked about this particular area where they were as rugged and steep and thick so and again no cell phone service. But the victims, we should say who they were, because I mean, this is just gutting and if you go online you'll see their pictures everywhere. But forty three year old Clinton David Brink and forty one year old Kristen Amanda Brink, and their family is speaking out. They're asking for privacy, but
they're also calling those two parents' heroes. They said they died protecting their children. We don't know the details. We don't know if their family was given any of those details, but certainly that statement would suggest, and they knew them well, that they of course would have done anything for their children. The actual specific statement is this, the family is asking for privacy during this very difficult time as they grieve
and learn how to navigate this new reality. I mean, how shocking, how scary They continue that they ask if anyone has information at all that will help in the investigation, to please contact the proper authorities immediately. Clinton and Kristen died heroes protecting their little girls, and they deserve justice. They will live, they will forever live in all of our hearts.
You can only imagine that's exactly had to be when they realized they were being assaulted, attacked, or whatever it was, their first thought was to make sure the kids are okay.
Probably tell your kids to run. Probably run, run, That's what you would do.
It's just instinct. In that case. Who knows that we We'll probably never get the details. I don't know whose responsibility it is to talk to these kids, to have to talk them through this incident so you can get information and then maybe go catch this person who is on the run. It's just horrific.
I have chills from head to toe thinking about. I mean, how much I love of being in the woods, and I've run alone in the woods. We love the rail trail in Arkansas. I don't know how if it's probably pretty close to this area. We like a flat trail. We're not into the rugged terrain so to seek. But you and I both love that peacefulness of running, walking, hiking in the woods and feeling like you're one with nature. This is just horrific to think someone was lying in wait.
But we do have a description of the suspect for anyone who's listening, and police have asked, and you just heard the family make that plea as well, that if you took pictures in the area. If you had videos, a lot of folks pulling up their cell phone, go back and look, see if you see anything suspicious, but
anyone matching this description. A white man with medium build, dark pants, dark ball cap and sunglasses, a white long sleeve shirt with sleeves rolled up, a black backpack, and they specifically pointed out that the man had fingerless gloves. We can only assume this description came from the little girls. They were the two who we know saw this assailant, and apparently they believe he was driving a black four
door sedan, perhaps a Mazda. And they said that they believe the license plate had duct tape or electrical tape over it, disguising the license plate. But it suggests planning, right, So a lot of folks are trying to figure out was this a random act of violence? Was this a targeted killing? But you know, it's tough to know obviously right now, but we're starting to get some details about who this couple was, and they had just moved to the area from Montana. They believe that she was a nurse.
She had graduated with an associate degree in nursing. According to the college's website. So, you know, everyone seemed like this was a sweet family of four who had just moved and she was a nurse. And that's that's all the details we really have at this point.
Well, obviously it seems like so much detail about the suspect, down to the sleeves being rolled up, that's what they believe he looked like at the time.
Who knows what he looks like now? Who knows where he is?
Right now?
The devil's den is closed, All trails are closed right now. It's scary to think there's always killers among us. You could argue, right, it's always somebody you don't know.
But to know.
That the person who did this is out there somewhere, it's terrifying for people in that region. And he's in the woods somewhere possibly, And who is this guy? What was the purpose was this target? Is this random? And he's going to be doing more random stuff like this? Is terrifying for a community.
It absolutely feels like you're watching a real live horror movie. And so we mentioned the first call, the nine one one call with the little girls and the visitor center was around two thirty, So a lot of folks have been pointing to the timeline how much time lapsed between
that first call and police alerting the public. But reporters in the area started to get tips that there was a big police presence in that State Park area about two hours later, around four thirty, But it wasn't until eight forty that night that the Arkansas State Police were able for they actually released the first warning that a massive man hunt was under way, that a double murderer was on the loose. That was about six hours after
that first call. And some folks have been upset about that as well.
They should. We are talking about to do police actually have a heads up and knew that there was a threat to the community running around and you'd let that thing go for six hours?
Six hours e if.
We're talking let's go down to five, let's go four, go three, go two, one is too much. As soon as you know this threat is out there, you've got to let the community know. But however, folks, would you believe the police there in Arkansas say they have a very good, valid reason as to why it took so long to get the word out.
And welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ where we are talking about this frightening manhunt that is going on right now in northwest Arkansas after a man killed a couple, a married couple forty one and forty three years old, and attacked them right in front of their two daughters, who were ages seven and nine. The family was on a hike on a beautiful Saturday in the Ozark Mountains on a popular hiking trail, and
the little girls ended up at the visitor center. Nine one one was called immediately, but it took six hours before an alert a bulletin went out to the rest of the area to the residents who lived nearby that there was a double murderer on the loose, and folks are not too happy about that massive delay, but the police say there was a reason.
Yeah, it's just rug it up here, I mean, they really say, as far as it took them a while to find the spot in this rugged terrain, like we mentioned earlier, the communications and not so great cell phone signals and all that stuff, But to figure out where they needed to be and then interview enough people around to even piece together what exactly had happened that took them a while, and then to relay that information back out. That's six hours that's tough.
It's a long time. I actually have the exact quote from Arkansas State Police. They said the location is in remote, rural Arkansas. It took time for our special agents to arrive on the scene, locate witnesses, conduct interviews, and collaborate information so we could release the appropriate information.
Six hours. I mean you, I don't know. I'm it's hard to criticize. I don't know exactly what they were going through. It's just for no, I don't care. Six hours is a long time. If you're actually telling me we didn't know we had a murderer on the loose until right before we put that statement out, that means you all are terrible investigators if it took you six hours to piece it together.
And they're saying they wanted to have all the information
correct before disseminating it. But the reality is that obviously is a crucial time to the point where they've actually asked I mean, I don't know this area specifically, but there must be enough residents or enough homes near and around the state park that they have absolutely asked anyone who has a home near this state park to look at their surveillance footage their door cam videos, whatever people might have around their homes for surveillance, to see if
they could go back in this time and see if they see anything suspicious, anyone matching the suspects description. But the point being is if there were enough people that they're asking for that help, it's just concerning that those people weren't given enough opportunity to be warned that a farmed and dangerous man is on the loose.
A weather man gives you a heads up about a tornado. Yeah, you alert the public to a threat when you know there is one. Now, if it took them six hours to figure it out, again that I will give them that benefit of the doubt. My apologies for calling you bad investigators, but if they're telling me, but what's a reasonable lapse robes between when we knew there was a killer on the loose and when we told the public.
I mean, I think thirty minutes at the most. I mean, at the most, I think you get it out whatever you have to try and get people to be vigilant, to be able to protect themselves, to bring your kids indoors. You think you want your kids playing around in the yard on a Saturday afternoon, if you know a killer is on the loose, You absolutely do not. So you know, you would have many or all of the folks who live in that area would have operated differently and probably
changed their behavior, absolutely knowing that that was possible. Also the fact that they had a description of the car. Look, once it's gotten away, it could be anywhere. And to say it's a black four door sedan, possibly a Masda with its license plate covered by tape.
That's tough.
That's really tough. But maybe if it had been given out immediately, perhaps it would have been a little bit easier.
But you notice, and in that area of pictures that even asking people with homes to check their door cams and all these things. They at this point, I mean, are there only witnesses a seven and nine year old who else is around could have seen them or heard something, or maybe other people have a description of somebody else they saw on.
The trail, correct, I mean, you'd have to think that if he were hiking, or he were around, and he was dressed in all black with hat and a sunglass like you do. I mean, I am a pretty avid hiker. You do see some folks on the trail that sometimes feel a little suspicious you remember them. I mean I have had my heart pound a little bit, thinking is that guy here to hike or is he doing what I've always been in a group. I was never alone.
But you have your You definitely have your senses heightened, and you're looking around, especially when you know there aren't a lot of other folks. But I would imagine this is a They say this is a popular hiking area in the Ozark National Forest. They say it's a popular tourist destination. They've got caves and rock formations.
And cabins and yeah, get in there.
Yeah, it's a big, big like Granted, of course you're in the great outdoors, so there's a lot of space in between people. But it would not be hard to believe that other people saw someone matching that description and probably helped maybe fill in the holes that the little girls.
Can you imagine the trauma of that moment you're seven or nine, all of a sudden, we don't know the scenario, but somehow, some way, this man in black is attacking your parents, and then your parents are probably screaming run, run run. The adrenaline the fight or flight To remember details would be incredibly difficult in that stressful situation, especially when you're that when you're.
That young, you're not supposed to have to worry about any of this, and with your family of four at two point thirty in the afternoon walking in a public trail, you shouldn't have to worry about this either. This story will continue to update you on. We are sure there will be updates from police. Whatever they are. We'll hop back on and certainly and hopefully rooms when they catch whoever this person is.
Yes, but our hearts go out to the family and the friends and the people who loved Clinton and Kristen Brink and certainly we hope that there will be justice for the two of them. Thank you for listening to us. I'm Amy Robach along with TJ. Holmes. Hope you all have a wonderful evening.