Insets, left to right: Robert Ellerd, Jackson Homan, Charles Homan (Pulaski County Jail). Background: The block in Arkansas where the defendants reportedly kidnapped the victim (Google Maps).
Three men in Arkansas have been detained after allegedly kidnapping an 18-year-old man at gunpoint, coercing him to hold a gun to his head to play Russian roulette, and threatening to kill him and his family if he did not end his relationship with his girlfriend.
Robert Ellerd, Charles Homan, and Jackson Homan were arrested last week and each charged with aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and first-degree terroristic threatening.
Ellerd, 54, previously served as the director of financial aid at University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College before his arrest led to his dismissal, as reported by Arkansas Business reported. Jackson Homan, 23, and Charles Homan, 20, are siblings. Jackson was close friends with the deceased brother of the victim’s girlfriend, according to Fort Smith CBS affiliate KFSM reported.
Per a probable cause affidavit, the young victim lodged a complaint with the Sherwood Police Department at about 4:16 p.m. on September 22, concerning the alleged abduction. He mentioned that shortly before the event, he was assisting his girlfriend by driving her car back to her home on the 200 block of Apple Valley Drive, situated roughly 10 miles northeast of Little Rock.
Upon arrival, the victim recounted that Jackson Homan “jerked” the driver’s side door open, “placed his arms around [the victim’s] neck and tried to pull him from the car.” After being extracted from the vehicle, the victim was “compelled” to walk to the back of the residence.
“Once at the backside, [the victim] heard a ‘gun cock’ and felt a gun forced into his back,” the affidavit states.
The victim said he was then forced — at gunpoint — to get into the back of a four-door Jeep that was white with a black roof. Inside the Jeep, the victim said he saw Ellerd, who was engaged to the mother of the victim’s girlfriend, sitting in the back behind the passenger seat. The older man was allegedly wearing a handgun in a holster on his waist.
Charles Homan was allegedly armed with a handgun in the passenger seat and kept the firearm fixed on the victim while Jackson Homan drove to another residence in the area of Lakewood.
“Once at the residence, they forced [the victim] to take his shoes and socks off,” the affidavit states. “They forced him into a chair and tied [him] to the chair with an extension cord. [The victim] advised he saw Charlie arm himself with a shotgun. [He] advised the three individuals ‘played Russian roulette’ with him and told him to stop dating [his girlfriend]. [The victim] remembered them ‘spinning the cylinder.’ They also told [him] to leave Little Rock or they would find him, kill him and his family.”
The trio then left the victim at a local high school.
All three of the defendants are currently being held in the Pulaski County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bond. It was not immediately clear when they were scheduled to appear in court.
