Delores Eggert

Case record: Delores Eggert

Delores Eggert (50) pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of her mother, Pauline Devor.

Background

Pauline Devor (70) disappeared in June 2007. Her husband, Bob Devor, returned home after a business trip on June 15, 2007 and reported that the house had been burglarized and his wife had gone missing. Several thousand dollars in bank bags and 14 guns were among the items Bob Devor reported missing.

Eggert moved in with Bob Devor about a week after Pauline Devor disappeared. The Devors had been married about 20 years.

Bob Devor had a sexual relationship with Eggert, his step-daughter, which started in 2005.

The offence

Eggert beat her mother and shot her three times on June 14, 2007, and then burned her mother’s body on the family’s rural farm.

Eggert was charged with capital murder, and the charge was reduced as part of a plea agreement to first-degree murder.

A female witness later told police that:

• she and Eggert lured Devor to a secluded spot on the Devor family’s 720-acre ranch near Cincinnati, Arkansas, before Eggert hit her mother over the head with a tire iron and shot her;
• the pair burned the body before dumping evidence over a bridge and into water;
• the witness helped Eggert burn Devor’s body “several times.”

The witness said the two then returned to remove personal items, which were thrown into a river, and that teeth and bone fragments were scattered throughout an area on the Devor’s 720-acre ranch.

Investigation

Authorities investigated the disappearance of Pauline Devor, and after two years a witness came forward with information about Eggert’s involvement.

During an investigation that included searching the Devor farm in northwest Washington County near Cincinnati, authorities found what were believed to be human remains, including charred bones and a couple of dental crowns, on the Devor farm in April 2009. No other remains had been found.

A description of evidence included recorded phone calls or conversations with Eggert, recordings of calls made from jail, and letters Eggert sent from jail that were seized. Eggert told one woman, who was wearing a wire, that she threw some of the remains into a river.

Authorities used a witness’s information to locate remains and executed a search warrant on the Devor farm, after which detectives found human remains in and around the burned area.

Monica Bautista told police in 2009 that she helped Eggert plan the murder, lure Devor to the location, kill Devor and burn her body. Bautista was not being charged with a crime.

Investigators also used information that Eggert had asked another person to keep firearms that belonged to Bob Devor on the morning of June 15, after reports that Devor was missing and that the Devor house had been burglarized.

Authorities found bullet holes in a wall inside the Devor home and concluded the scene had been staged.

Arrest

Delores Eggert was arrested after being taken to a hospital following an attempt to kill herself at the Devor home prior to her arrest. After she was found at the Devor home in northwest Washington County and taken to Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital, she was placed under arrest by officers with the Siloam Springs Police Department on a charge of capital murder. A hold on Eggert was placed by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and after her release from the hospital she was taken to the Washington County Detention Center and booked. She was being held without bond.

Sheriff Tim Helder described a staged scene and said the arrest came after deputies received a tip Friday that Eggert had overdosed on pills and was at the home of her stepfather, Bob Devor, in northwest Washington County.

Trial

Eggert changed her plea from not guilty to guilty. She admitted she shot her mother three times, causing her death.

A capital murder trial was set to start and was canceled with the guilty plea. Prosecutors decided she would not face the death penalty.

Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty, and the death penalty was off the table.

Sentencing

Eggert was sentenced to 30 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction for first-degree murder as part of a plea bargain.

The court also made statements at sentencing. Washington County Circuit Judge William Storey told Eggert: “Any murder case is a terrible situation.”

Appeals

Bob Devor’s attorneys filed an appeal to have him released on bond pending an appellate trial after Devor’s conviction.

Outcome

Eggert pleaded guilty and received a 30-year prison sentence on August 15, 2010.

Other details

Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett said: “I’m relieved that it’s over,” and said, “It was going to take a long time, and it wasn’t going to be easy.” Durrett said he did not anticipate any other arrests.

Sheriff Tim Helder described the staged crime scene and said: “Devor staged a crime scene in his home to try and throw investigators off.”

Helder said that he believed the reason Pauline Devor was killed was a credit card that Eggert stole from her mother and that Eggert believed she would be prosecuted for the theft and so killed her mother to cover up the theft.

When discussing Eggert’s attempts to manage evidence, Helder said that, while recording conversations, Eggert acknowledged throwing remains off a bridge and urged the witness not to change her story, implying she was prepared to flee the jurisdiction if it appeared she would be arrested. Helder said Eggert also said: “she was not going to spend the rest of her life in jail.”

Washington County prosecutors stated: “You don’t seek the death penalty just for the sake of it,” and said that the case was not appropriate for the death penalty.

In a news conference, Sheriff Tim Helder said: “it is satisfying in a sense that a lot of hard work by our deputies has definitely paid off.”

Dallas McClellan said: “If we hadn't intervened, she would have died,” referring to Eggert being taken to Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital.

Captain Dallas McClellan of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said: “things that we may not be able to identify, they can identify as far as human bone, and be able to tell us the difference between human and animal.”

Sheriff Tim Helder summarized: “it’s just a sad day she wasn’t found alive. Any time you're dealing with family involved in a homicide, it just makes it that much more disturbing.”

Prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty in Eggert’s case. If she had been convicted of capital murder, Eggert would have received an automatic life term without parole.

First-degree murder was punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison.

Timeline

• June 14, 2007 — Eggert beat her mother and shot her three times, then burned the body on the family’s rural farm.
• June 15, 2007 — Bob Devor returned home after a business trip and reported the house had been burglarized; Pauline Devor was reported missing.
• April 13, 2009 — A witness told deputies about helping Eggert burn Devor’s body “several times” and described the killing and disposal; Eggert acknowledged throwing her mother’s items off a bridge and urged the witness not to change her story.
• April 14, 2009 — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on the Devor farm; detectives found human remains in and around the burned area.
• April 21, 2009 — Eggert was booked into jail Sunday after being arrested from a Siloam Springs hospital; she was on suicide watch and held without bond.
• 2010-08-15 — Eggert was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty.