One of the four men that police says were involved in the 2017 New Year's Eve murder of Vernice “Duwane” Ledbetter showed up on the "released" list of Johnson County Detention Center Inmates today, although the jailer that answered the phone refused to comment on the situation and said we would have to "call back tomorrow" for more information.
Zachary Geels was arrested about 2:25 p.m. Monday on January 29, 2018 inside a local motel room, the last of the four suspects that were arrested in the case. His trial date had been set for January 4 of this year, but his attorney Kent Mclemore filed a Motion to Continue on December 26.
Geels was being held on $800,000 bond and it's unclear if he was actually released after posting bail or if he was transferred to another facility. Geels was a three-time convicted felon in the state of Arkansas (dating back to 2011) before he was arrested in connection with Ledbetter's murder.
Phillip Raible, Brian White, and Isaac Vaughn were all arrested January 23, 2018 and booked into the Johnson County Detention Center.
Raible, who is also charged with First Degree Murder and has a drug charge as well that was committed prior to the date of the murder, remains incarcerated in the JCDC on a $750,000 bond.
White, who entered a guilty plea to the murder in May and agreed to testify against the three other defendants also remains incarcerated in Johnson County on a $760,000 bond. White signed an agreement to waive a jury trial in November and his sentencing is scheduled for February 9.
White and Vaughn were also submitted for mental evaluations.
There are no records on Arkansas Court Connect on proceedings for Vaughn and there are no inmate matches found for him in either Johnson County or the Arkansas Department of Corrections website. However, we was retturned to the Johnson County Detention Center on January 3 and listed as "Here for Court" and shows a release date as today.
Ledbetter was last seen December 31, 2017 in Johnson County. His body was found January 22, 2018 in a rural area off Highway 123.