By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
Thurman Bailey kept mostly to himself, although he was well known in Gurdon for his generosity. Tales abound of high school graduates, unable to afford a senior ring or cap and gown, who got one only because Bailey bought it for them. He would often buy groceries or Christmas gifts for the less fortunate.
Though he wasn’t known to flout his wealth, Bailey always kept at least a couple thousand dollars in his wallet. It was also widely believed that he kept a briefcase containing thousands more in cash, stashed away inside his home.
Known as “Fat Wallace”, Bailey stood over 6 feet tall and weighed just under 200 pounds. Despite his age of 79, the retired sawmill worker was still stout as an ox. But the brute met his match during an apparent home invasion on the morning of Jan. 25, 2006.
According to police, a neighbor found Bailey deceased and laying face-down in the kitchen, just a few feet from the front door of his home at 1569 Smithton Road. Bailey’s wrists were bound with duct-tape, his hands clenching a baseball cap. Police were alerted to the discovery when the startled neighbor phoned 911.
Investigators knew right away that they had a possible homicide on their hands.
Nineteen years later, detectives have yet to piece together who tied Bailey’s hands and rummaged through his home. Bailey’s death was ruled as a homicide, although the cause of death was determined to be a heart attack, likely triggered by the ambush.
Bailey was a pillar of the neighborhood
Bailey left behind no surviving relatives, but had amassed a number of friends in addition to his personal wealth.
“He was a good fellow,” said life-long neighbor Johnny Smith. “He’d help anybody — he didn’t care who. He didn’t go to church, but he would send money to churches.” Like others who benefitted from Bailey’s generosity, Smith, now approaching 60, recalled that, as a youngster, he often mowed Bailey’s yard in exchange for cash.
Bailey, who reportedly had a six-digit bank account at the time of his death, had one major fault that ultimately led to his demise: he was too trusting.
Born in 1926, Bailey was of a generation that never locked their door or worried about evil knocking at their door. He spent much of his time porch-sitting with his eyes closed, napping. “We kept telling him not to do that,” Smith said, “but he’d say ‘Ain’t nobody gonna come in on me.’ He trusted too many people.”
Bailey’s house was often a gathering place for friends and neighbors. Smith described Bailey as a pillar of the Smithton community — a man who would give a stranger the shirt off his back.
“Smithton would never be the same without him,” he added.
Bailey’s attackers zeroed in on his routine
Jason Watson, now Clark County’s sheriff, was a detective at the time of the home invasion at Bailey’s residence, one of a couple dozen homes in the sparsely populated Smithton community on the outskirts of Gurdon. He says Bailey was the victim of a targeted home invasion. The perpetrator(s), Watson believes, took advantage of Bailey’s daily routine and likely waited just outside his front door prior to the ambush. There were no signs of forced entry.
Bailey’s morning routine consisted of waking early and preparing instant coffee, then, on cold mornings, gathering firewood from his front porch. Before going out, he would grab his cap from a nail at the front door. Watson believes Bailey’s attackers met him at the front door before he had time to put the cap on, and taped his wrists during the short-lived scuffle.
Watson says the home invasion and Bailey’s death probably happened around dawn. Police would learn from interviewing neighbors and friends — even a school bus driver whose route included Smithton Road — that Bailey often stood or sat on his front porch. On the morning of his death, however, neighbors and the bus driver took note that he wasn’t there. Neither did smoke billow from the chimney. Curious about these details, a neighbor went to check on him at noon, only to find Bailey deceased and bound.
Police not giving up on justice for Bailey
The investigation that busied detectives for months has come to all but a halt, but Watson isn’t giving up hope. On the 19th anniversary of Bailey’s death, Watson shared a few more details for the first time since the case was opened.
The duct tape on Bailey’s wrists was submitted to the Arkansas Crime Lab for DNA testing, but yielded inconclusive results that would point to a suspect.
The investigation took Watson as far away as Michigan, where he interviewed people who had been in town to attend a funeral in the days before Bailey’s death, and Texas, where more leads turned out to be dead ends. Watson said he and other detectives spent hundreds of hours talking to countless people and chasing down leads.
Police never located the cash-filled briefcase Bailey was known to keep in his home.
While many opened up about their suspicions, police have not yet been able to link a suspect or suspects to the crime scene.
Detectives identified more than 10 persons of interest, a list that was whittled down to include one or two suspects. Police have not publicly identified those suspects’ names, and Watson declined to name them during a 2025 interview. He did say that both of those suspects are still alive and reside in Arkansas.
Of the investigators who worked the case when it was opened, Watson is the last one still active in law enforcement. The sheriff said he hasn’t given up trying to solve Bailey’s case.
“I still talk to people about it,” Watson said. “I’ve conducted interviews as recently as this past year. This case has taken me across the country. While the case is cold, it hasn’t been put away in a filing cabinet — I still want justice for Thurman Bailey.”
Sheriff asks for public’s help in solving Bailey’s case
Anyone with information related to the Bailey homicide can call the Clark County Sheriff’s Office at 870-246-2222.
Watson additionally provided his cell phone number, 870-223-3860, for anyone with tips to help solve the case.
What police hope to gain is information about people who were in Bailey’s neighborhood in the days before the home invasion.
Tips about the case, Watson added, can remain anonymous.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
