Brooks Due (Photo courtesy of Marion County Sheriff’s Office)
The victim of Monday’s fatal shooting in Bull Shoals has been identified, and online court records indicate her suspected assailant was her estranged husband. Forty-eight-year-old Anita Suzanne Due of Bull Shoals was pronounced dead at Baxter Health, and 49-year-old Brooks Dean Due of Briarcliff was found dead from a suspected suicide Monday afternoon in Baxter County.
According to the Arkansas State Police, the Bull Shoals Police Department responded to reports of a shooting in the 500 block of Maple Avenue around 6:30 Monday morning. Officers reportedly discovered Anita Due inside her vehicle with a gunshot wound to her head. Emergency personnel transported her to the hospital, and she later succumbed to her injuries.
Bull Shoals police requested assistance from the state police’s Criminal Investigation Division, and Brooks Due was soon identified as the primary suspect. Brooks Due was being sought on charges of first-degree murder and violating a protection order.
The manhunt extended into the afternoon hours throughout areas of Marion and Baxter counties. According to Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, deputies began searching for Brooks Due at and around his residence. The state police deployed one of their helicopters, and a vehicle matching the description of Brooks Due’s was found on Shoal Creek Trail near Norfork Lake just before 2:30.
As the canine tracking team from the Arkansas Department of Corrections’ North Central Unit in Calico Rock joined the search, gunshots were heard. Brooks Due’s deceased body was located around 3:30 approximately 70 to 75 yards off the road from Shoal Creek Trail. Possession of Brooks Due’s body, believed to be dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, was taken by the Baxter County Coroner’s Office.
Online records indicate Brooks Due was scheduled to be in Baxter County Circuit Court on Monday on four felony counts and a misdemeanor after allegedly assaulting his estranged wife on April 1. According to the probable cause affidavit from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, the couple had separated at the beginning at February. The victim’s vehicle was needing repairs and she had taken it to Brooks Due’s residence. An argument ensued after he demanded to see the victim’s phone. Brooks Due allegedly pulled out a gun, threatened to kill both the victim and himself and would not let her leave. He then reportedly choked her until she passed out. The victim says Brooks Due choked her two more times that evening, causing her to pass out both times. He also allegedly struck her in the head with the gun. After several hours, Brooks Due agreed to let her leave as long as she did not contact law enforcement.
Records show Anita Due filed a petition for an order of protection the next day. Brooks Due was arrested and booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on April 9 in connection with the incident. He was released less than an hour later on a bond of $50,000.
Records also indicate a previous petition for a protection order against Brooks Due was filed by Anita Due in October 2007. It was dismissed in March 2008.
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