Whitehaven Man Indicted in Woman’s Death

Dec. 16, 2020 – A Whitehaven man has been indicted in the shooting death this summer of a teen-aged Arkansas woman he allegedly had been trafficking for commercial sex acts, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

A grand jury Tuesday indicted Robert J. Holmes, 31, on felony counts of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, trafficking for commercial sex acts, and possession of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony.

He is being held in the Shelby County Jail.

Holmes was arrested on June 23 after the body of 19-year-old Jareesa Porchia of Camden, Ark., was found in a ditch on Old Getwell Road just south of Knight Arnold Road.

Investigators said Holmes shot her in a van that evening and then disposed of her body in the ditch. They said that for several months Holmes had been collecting money from the victim after arranging encounters in which she performed sex acts for money.

The case is being handled by Felony Assts. Stacy McEndree and Paige Munn of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 6 which prosecutes cases in General Sessions Division 15 and in Criminal Court Division 10.