Arkansas State Police: Madison County man shoots and kills his twin brother in the Kingston area near Huntsville
- Dennis McCaslin
- 47 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Arkansas State Police detectives are piecing together the hours before a predawn shooting that left one 22-year-old man dead in rural Madison County and put his twin brother in jail on murder and child-endangerment charges.
Just after 4:15 a.m. Friday, August 28, Madison County deputies raced to a reported shooting in the 200 block of Madison County Road 2361, a stretch of gravel and woods in the Kingston area west of Huntsville.
They found Darrell Napolitano, 22, of Huntsville, dead at the scene. Joshua Gennaro Napolitano, also 22 and also of Huntsville, was still there
. Deputies took him into custody without incident and booked him first at the Madison County Detention Center before moving him to the larger Benton County Detention Center in Bentonville.
A 2014 obituary for Jesse Napolitano of Elkins listed Joshua and Darrell as twin sons. Social media records later showed the two men listed each other as friends. Both lived in the same small Ozarks town.
Friends of Darrell launched a GoFundMe the same day he died, asking for help for his wife and child and describing the sudden loss of a coworker and friend. By Sunday evening the page had raised nearly $1,700 toward a $4,000 goal.
Joshua now faces first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, and first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor (not by a parent). Benton County jail logs list a $350,000 bond and a hold for Madison County.
The attempted-murder count tracks with a preliminary account that Joshua fired a second shot during a physical struggle with a woman inside the home. Investigators say Darrell was shot in the head and that blood was found in multiple places in the bedroom where his body was discovered. A child belonging to the victim was inside the residence when both shots were fired.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office immediately asked the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division to take the lead. Sheriff’s officials described the episode as isolated and said they did not believe the public faced any further threat. Huntsville police, state troopers, and Madison County EMS also responded.
Darrell’s body was sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory in Little Rock so pathologists can determine the official manner and cause of death. Investigators have released no motive and have said the case remains active.
The twins grew up in the same tight-knit northwest Arkansas hills that now hold one of them in a Bentonville cell and the other at the state crime lab. Relatives and coworkers of Darrell have asked for space while they arrange help for the young widow and child left behind.
Prosecutors have not yet announced a court date. Until they do, the only public record is the jail log, the sheriff’s first-day statement, and the quiet country road where two brothers’ lives collided before sunrise.
