Texarkana woman formally charged with first-degree murder in Ozan Gardens stabbing death

No results Kimberly Rankins. (Miller County Sheriff’s Office booking photo) TEXARKANA, Ark. — Miller County prosecutors have formally charged a 38-year-old Texarkana, Arkansas, woman with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a man found outside the Ozan Gardens apartments last month.

Kimberly Rankins is charged in a criminal information filed Friday in Miller County Circuit Court. The charging document, signed by Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell, alleges that Rankins, “with the purpose of causing the death of another person,” caused the death of Telem Fairchild on or about Oct. 3, court records show.

First-degree murder is a Class Y felony in Arkansas, punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison.

Rankins has been held since her arrest Oct. 4 by the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department. A judge set her bond at $750,000 at her first court appearance Oct. 5 and appointed the public defender’s office to represent her. Docket sheets dated Oct. 20 and Nov. 10 both list her as in jail, and the most recent sets her return to court for Dec. 1 before Circuit Judge Wren Autrey.

Officers were called about 5:38 a.m. Oct. 4 to the apartment complex at 3302 Washington St., where Fairchild, 29, was lying face down on the ground, police said at the time. A stab wound to his torso was discovered after the Miller County coroner’s office arrived. Detectives determined that Rankins, who lives at the complex, and Fairchild had been in a physical fight there around 11 p.m. the night before, police said, as TXKtoday reported in October.

The one-page information does not describe the evidence in the case, and no affidavit laying out the investigation has been filed in the court record.

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