Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas has issued a carefully worded statement this afternoon emphasizing that there is one — and only one — suspect in the slaying of KATV anchor Anne Pressly. That’s Curtis Vance, held since last Wednesday on a capital murder charge.

The statement is a response to a forest fire of unfounded rumor implicating some well-known local people in the case. Who knows how or why the rumors got started. But they took off in earnest last week and  reportedly have been aired on a Little Rock radio station, a Dallas TV station, a sports website and the comment strings of numerous blogs, including this one. We have addressed them previously.

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A lawsuit may yet respond to some of the remarks. For now, I’ll just leave you with a link to the chief’s statement. He said the police anticipate no further arrests, though Vance might face additional charges as the investigation progresses. He said the department would not respond to the rumors nor comment on the case against Vance as it moves to trial. Prosecutor Larry Jegley joined Stuart in the statement.

It is safe to predict, I’m sorry to say, that the conspiracy theorists will find some perverse “proof” in this categorical denial. (“Why would they say anything if there wasn’t something to it?,” they’ll say.) It is always thus. But an aggrieved family hopes this official word will dampen talk that has even reached ears of children. We shall see.

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