Murder of Arkansas Realtor brings increased awareness to agent safety

When Arkansas real estate agent Beverly Carter went missing Sept. 25 after showing a home to a potential client, friends and family hoped for the best but feared the worst.

Her body was found five days later buried in a shallow grave behind a concrete mixing plant north of Little Rock.

The death made national headlines as a senseless and seemingly random act of violence against a woman, who at the time, was only doing her job.

According to national media reports, police arrested Aaron Lewis, a 33-year-old repeat felon, who pleaded not guilty to capital murder, kidnapping and robbery as well as four weapons charges. However, Lewis did admit to meeting Carter and leaving in a car together.

“She was just a woman that worked alone — a rich broker,” Lewis said in response to questions about his motives. National analysts say the response only highlights the inescapable reality that female agents are easy-to-find targets simply by virtue of their job description.

“Beverly’s death was eye opening for our area,” said Brian Jared, president of the Greater Springfield Board of Realtors and an agent with Murney Associates, Realtors. “We all get in our comfort zone, we all want the sale and we all forget how venerable this profession can be.”

Selling homes is primarily a solitary vocation that involves escorting virtual strangers into sometimes vacant properties at a moment’s notice. The National Association of Realtors reports 57 percent of agents are women, and a 2011 Realtor safety report shows more than half of victims are female, with crimes ranging from physical and sexual assault to kidnapping and murder.

Carter’s death has brought increased attention to agent vulnerability as similar attacks are reported nationwide.

Palm Springs, Calif., newspaper The Desert Sun reported a 55-year-old female agent was attacked less than two week’s after Carter’s death outside a home she had listed in an affluent community along the coast of southern Orange County. According to The Desert Sun, the agent was put in a chokehold and punched by a man she didn’t know as she secured the lockbox.

The man fled after the woman screamed.

Murney Managing Broker Jeff Parker said agent safety always is a concern and the Springfield-based company has numerous procedures in place to help.

“We tell agents if there is ever any concern, to call a broker – we have four here – and tell them where you’re going and ask for a return call at a certain time,” he said. “The No. 1 thing is not to get in that situation, but sometimes that’s the nature of the beast. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.”

Parker said in the wake of Carter’s death, the company held an informal safety training with a Springfield Police Department officer who also is a an agent with the company.

“We talked about things like using the buddy system and coming into the office for a first meeting,” he said. “It’s personal preference, but there are also tools that can help, like mace and stun guns.”

Parker said agents also discussed a new smartphone app dubbed Safe Trek. Upon opening, the user holds their thumb on the screen.

If contact is broken, the user has 10 seconds to input a code or the phone will automatically dial 911.

“Is that the best solution? No, but it’s something extra an agent can use if they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation,” Parker said.

The Washington Post reports Carter did many of the things agents are trained to do: She left her purse in her car to avoid theft, and she called her husband to give him her exact location.

But it wasn’t enough. Her brown Cadillac was still parked in the driveway of the property with her purse inside after the scheduled appointment and Carter was nowhere to be found.

“There really is no substitute to taking along a buddy,” said SPD Crime Prevention Officer Benjamin Lord. “Sometimes the little things can make the difference, such as simply asking for a driver’s license for verification before meeting.

“Someone looking to buy a house won’t care, but someone with other motives won’t be as willing to give up that information.”

Standing 6 foot, 5 inches tall, Jared said he’s often been asked to partner up for the buddy system.

“I’ve gone with agents before and not just females,” he said. “You don’t want to jump to conclusions and assume devious intentions, but you don’t want to be complacent either.”

Lord said he hasn’t come across any incidents in Springfield in recent years, but that doesn’t mean agents are safe. According to U.S. mortgage market magazine HousingWire, Missouri is home to the eighth most dangerous city for real estate agents and in close proximity to two others.

St. Louis ranks as the eighth most violent city in America, with a 1 in 14 chance of being involved in a property crime, according to the magazine. Sister city East St. Louis ranked No. 1 on the list, with a crime rate of over 117 offenses per 1,000 people.

Just below the Missouri Bootheel, West Memphis, Ark., ranks No. 4 most dangerous on the list.

The National Association of Realtors offers further tips for agents when meeting to show a property alone, including not entering confined spaces, walking behind clients, telling others where you are and having an excuse to leave.

“I’ll admit as a 6-foot-5 man I don’t often feel unsafe, but I always let people go first and walk behind them the entire way,” Jared said. “Something as simple as that can give me peace of mind.”

Parker said the atmosphere in the Murney office following Carter’s death was one of both shock and awareness.

“This was close to home. It really caused us to take a look at how we do business each day,” he said. “Each day we rush out to meet clients and don’t know much about them.

“I think we all said, ‘Hey, this could have happened to me,’ and that was a scary thought.”

Jared said industry changes could be on the horizon as violence against agents grows, but for now, awareness is key.

“We will talk about this for a month then fall back into our routines, but this is serious,” he said.

“We all want the deal, but no deal is worth your life.”[[In-content Ad]]