Curtis Vance Arrested for Killing Little Rock TV Anchor Anne Pressly

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Arkansas man was arrested here late Wednesday night and charged with capital murder in the death of a popular local television anchorwoman beaten almost beyond recognition in her home five weeks ago.

The victim, Anne Pressly, 26, was discovered in her bedroom on Oct. 20 by her mother, alarmed that her daughter had failed to answer her wake-up call. The authorities said Ms. Pressly had suffered blunt force trauma to her head and neck. She died five days later.

The man, Curtis Lavelle Vance, 28, offered no resistance when he was taken into custody 90 minutes after Little Rock police disclosed at a news conference that a warrant for his arrest had been obtained earlier in the day, officials said. Mr. Vance was a resident of Marianna, a small town about 100 miles east of Little Rock, they said.

“This is a very, very solid case built on solid detective work,” Chief Stuart Thomas of the Little Rock Police Department said at the news conference, although he declined to reveal any details of the investigation or a motive for the attack.