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ABC EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK - JAY C. RIDER


JAY C. RIDER
Jay Carl Rider is 65 years old and has been employed as an ABC Enforcement Agent since September 2003. Rider lives in Hackett. Rider began his career in law enforcement way back in 1975 as a patrolman with the Fort Smith Police Department and retired as head of their major crime unit in 2002 to become the chief of the Barling Police Department.

Rider gained notoriety back in 2005 when the Federal Bureau of Investigation
accused him of being the trigger man in the murder of Lori Murchison in 1995. 

In September 1995, Murchison and her boyfriend had been jailed on a charge of public intoxication in Fort Smith. When Murchison was released from jail, she told jailers that she intended to go pick up her paycheck, cash it and then return to bail out her boyfriend.  She never made it back.  The last time anyone saw her alive was when she went to the office at the Continental Motel to pick up a key to a room she and her boyfriend had there. 


Murchison is still listed as missing on the Fort Smith Police web site.


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The FBI investigation determined that Rider was part of an "inner group" in the Fort Smith Police Department that operated somewhat like cops depicted in the movies Magnum Force, Training day or The Departed. The FBI investigated claims that Rider killed Murchison and disposed her body at the direction of then Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney Ron Fields. The FBI investigation also involved accusations that Fields was involved in drug dealing and that he carried a gun and went on drug raids with Rider, which was a violation of federal law. 

According to a source, Murchison reportedly said something while in jail that linked Fields to being involved with illegal drugs.  When she was released, police officers in Fields' gang sent Rider to question her and allegedly Rider took Fields with him.



According to news reports, armed FBI agent swarmed Rider's home in connection with their investigation into Murchison's mysterious disappearance.



Rider, now working for the ABC, was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury convened by the Public Corruption Section of the Department of Justice in Washington D.C.



The FBI's investigation caused Fields' security clearance to be revoked in May 2005 and he subsequently lost his job working for Asa Hutchinson at the Department of Homeland Security.   Not too long after, Hutchinson also left employment with DHS.

This was not the first time Rider was under the spotlight.  When Rider was Chief of the Barling Police Department there were complaints that he misused funds and spent too much time with a girlfriend. Rider was only chief for a short while.




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In September 2012, Rider was featured in an episode of Unusual Suspects on the Investigation Discovery Channel. One of the most interesting things gleaned from watching the show was that Rider was/is missing a front lower tooth.





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IMDb EPISODE LISTING

Maybe the ID channel will have an episode that deals with the Murchison mystery.




Rider's involvement in the FBI's investigation places his integrity and credibility into question. Why would the DFA/ABC want to employ someone like Rider?

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