A former Liberty County corrections officer pleaded not guilty Monday to the September murder of a Fort Stewart soldier’s wife.
Clad in an orange jumpsuit and leg shackles, Kenneth Lumpkin appeared in court before Judge Charles P. Rose Jr., who will preside over the trial. Lumpkin is facing charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and kidnapping with bodily harm in the death of Lori Arrowood, who was 42 when she disappeared from her Long County home in September. After four days of searching, her body was found near Tower Road in Long County.
Arrowood’s family sat a few feet away from the man who authorities believe may have strangled Arrowood in her home while her husband, Nathon Arrowood, was deployed overseas.
Atlantic Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney John Hope said the trial is set to be placed on the jury calendar, but it is expected to take some time before the case is heard. It takes about a year to go to trial, Hope said after the arraignment.
Lumpkin was denied bond Sept. 30 and was sent to Wayne County Jail to await court proceedings. Lumpkin was said to be a friend of the Arrowood family and reportedly had been doing repair work at Lori Arrowood’s home the day she went missing.
Nathon Arrowood filed a crime victim impact statement last week with the circuit clerk of court.
“My wife was murdered at my home while I was deployed overseas. I don’t know any of the details of the case or if anything else happened. I don’t know because nothing has been said to me and no law-enforcement personnel have kept me updated,” he wrote in the statement to the district attorney’s office.
“I think Kenneth should get the death penalty, no questions asked, because of the situation. I don’t think it would be fair for my tax dollars to keep him alive and feed him three times a day when he took my wife in that way.”