Attorneys for Arron Lewis and his estranged wife, Crystal Lowery, today entered innocent pleas on their behalf to charges of capital murder and kidnapping in the death of Arkansas real estate agent Beverly Carter.
Aaron M. Lewis
Lewis did not speak during a court appearance today, and his attorney requested a mental evaluation for his client, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.
Carter disappeared Sept. 25 after she was scheduled to show a vacant home on the outskirts of Little Rock. Her body was found in a shallow grave about 30 miles from the home on Sept. 30, the day after Lewis was arrested.
After he was arrested and read his rights, authorities said Lewis admitted to kidnapping Carter, but denied having killed her and would not say where she was. He characterized Carter as a “rich broker” to reporters, and suggested that another person was involved in her disappearance.
While Carter’s death has spurred some to call for industrywide rules requiring that real estate agents vet clients before meeting for the first time, so far efforts to improve Realtor safety have focused on education.