Chris Johnston (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A report of a physical domestic incident in northern Baxter County led to the arrest of a rural Mountain Home man following a manhunt. Thirty-three-year-old Chris Johnston III was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center Thursday night on numerous charges.
According to Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, 911 dispatch advised his office around 7:30 of the incident at an address on Promise Land Road. The caller claimed she was hiding in a closet, and the suspect was armed with a rifle, threatening her. Deputies arrived at the residence and observed a male running into a wooded area behind the house. The deputies were able to get three female victims out of the residence safely.
The Mountain Home Police Department arrived with its drone to assist the deputies. The canine tracking team from the Arkansas Division of Corrections’ North Central Unit in Calico Rock also arrived at the scene, and nearly an hour and a half later, the suspect was located and taken into custody without incident. A rifle was located near where the suspect had allegedly thrown it. In addition, several fully-matured marijuana plants were located during a search, growing behind an outbuilding on the property.
The suspect, identified as Johnston, is facing two counts of aggravated assault on a family member, three counts of third-degree domestic battery, and one count each of first-degree false imprisonment, fleeing, resisting arrest, manufacture of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released late Friday morning on a bond of $25,000 and is scheduled to appear in Baxter County Circuit Court later this month.
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