Sheriff Daniel Perry said the case moved forward after an unrelated drug arrest led investigators back to the killing of Jerry Wiley.
VAN BUREN, AK — Two men have been charged with first-degree murder in the 2022 shooting death of Jerry Wiley, a 76-year-old cabinet maker found dead inside his Crawford County home, authorities said Tuesday.
The arrests mark the first charges in a case that stayed open for more than three years after Wiley was killed near Kibler, a small community in western Arkansas. Crawford County Sheriff Daniel Perry said Charles Edgar Wigginton and Robert Croft are now accused in the killing. Prosecutor Kevin Holmes said the charge carries a possible life sentence if either man is convicted.
Wiley was killed Oct. 3, 2022, at his home on Sunnyslope Drive, outside Van Buren and Alma. His wife, Janine Wiley, said she spoke to him about an hour before she returned home. She had called after leaving a doctor’s appointment and planned to pick him up, but he told her to go on without him and come back later. When she arrived, she first thought her husband had fallen or suffered a medical emergency. She called for help, and first responders tried to save him. Investigators later said Wiley had been shot twice. “I’ve been waiting,” Janine Wiley said after the arrests were announced. “I didn’t realize what a burden it was.”
Perry said investigators had considered Wigginton a person of interest for years but did not have enough evidence to charge him. Wigginton and his wife, Jennifer Lee Wigginton, lived next door to Wiley, and Charles Wigginton had been building a house nearby when the shooting happened, officials said. The sheriff said Jennifer Wigginton was arrested in 2026 on unrelated drug charges but that investigators found no evidence she was involved in Wiley’s death. The new break came after law enforcement questioned Charles Wigginton following that unrelated case, Perry said. Authorities said Wigginton confessed to shooting Wiley and gave investigators information that helped lead them to Croft.
Croft and Wigginton knew each other at the time of the killing, Perry said. Authorities said both men admitted being at Wiley’s home and gave details that investigators said only people involved in the crime would know. Officials described robbery as the motive. The sheriff did not describe what, if anything, was taken from the home, and several details remain unclear, including whether investigators recovered a weapon, what evidence tied Croft to the scene and when prosecutors expect to file any additional court documents. No one had been arrested in the homicide before this week.
The case centered on a rural stretch of Crawford County where Wiley and his wife had lived for years. Family members described him as kind, steady and devoted to his work as a cabinet maker. Janine Wiley said her husband would help anyone and remained a daily presence in her thoughts after his death. “He was such a loving person, kind and caring and do anything for anybody,” she said. For nearly four years, she said, she lived beside one of the men now accused in the killing. Perry called Wigginton one of the most dangerous people in the county before his arrest.
Wigginton is being held in the Crawford County Detention Center without bond, officials said. He was scheduled for an initial court appearance Wednesday morning, where a judge was expected to address whether he could hire a lawyer or needed a public defender. Croft, who officials said is serving a three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to felony drug possession charges in 2023, is expected to be transported back to Crawford County to face the murder charge. Court dates for Croft were not immediately clear.
Holmes said both men face first-degree murder charges in Wiley’s death. The prosecutor said the case could bring life prison terms if the men are convicted. The charge does not decide guilt, and both defendants will have the chance to enter pleas and challenge the evidence in court. Officials did not say Tuesday whether more arrests are expected. Perry said the investigation continued for years because detectives kept the case open and revisited leads even when no charge had been filed.
The announcement brought a measure of relief to Wiley’s family but not an end to the case. Janine Wiley said the arrests lifted a weight she had carried since the day she found her husband. She said she still does not understand why anyone would kill him. “He took my husband, my very, very best friend,” she said. “I can’t believe that he could do that and not feel something of remorse.”
The case now moves to Crawford County Circuit Court, where Wigginton and Croft are expected to face formal proceedings on the murder charges. As of Wednesday, May 13, 2026, Wigginton remained jailed without bond and Croft was awaiting transport to Crawford County.
Author note: Last updated May 13, 2026.