RENO, Nev. (AP) — A former Carson City emergency room doctor sentenced for drugging and kidnapping his ex-wife from her Utah home is now facing murder charges in Arkansas in the death of the woman's previous husband and an associate.
The Reno Gazette-Journal (http://bit.ly/oD4mNN) first reported on its website Friday that authorities in Conway, Ark., will seek extradition of Richard Conte to face murder charges in the May 2002 deaths Carter Elliott, 49, and his employee, Timothy Robertson, 25.
It wasn't immediately clear if a court hearing was scheduled.
Conte, 61, is scheduled to be released from a Nevada prison Sunday, the newspaper reported. He pleaded guilty in Nevada and was sentenced to 15 years for kidnapping Lark Gathright-Elliott at her Salt Lake City home in 2002.
As part of a plea agreement, Conte agreed to forfeit more than 100 weapons and other items, including handguns, rifles, knives, Taser guns, a grenade and grenade launcher, court documents show.
Authorities say he drugged and bound her in the back of his pickup truck and drove to his home in northern Douglas County, where he held her hostage until she was rescued by sheriff's deputies after they were notified by Elliott's relatives in Utah.
Conte and Gathright-Elliott were married in Dec. 2001, but the marriage lasted only a few months.
The kidnapping happened about a month after authorities said Carter Elliott and Robertson were killed.
Cody Hiland, prosecuting attorney in Arkansas' 12th Judicial District that includes Conway, told the Gazette-Journal that capital murder charges were filed Friday.
"This is an extensive file and obviously a serious issue. We had to examine it to determine whether prosecution was warranted," Hiland told the newspaper.
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