Fatal Arizona accident turns into suspected homicide

Police in Bullhead City, Ariz., have arrested five suspects in a homicide that had been erroneously reported as a fatal hit-and-run accident.

Police initially concluded that Michael Clayton Clark had been on a bicycle when struck by a vehicle. They now believe Clark, 50, of Bullhead City, was severely beaten by Jade Tracy, 22, also of Bullhead City, and Tracy's friend Eric Durand, 19, of Laughlin, police spokeswoman Emily Fromelt said.

She said the beating was administered in Jade Tracy's home, where he lived with his brother, Cole Tracy, 18, father, Todd Tracy, 51, and his father's girlfriend, Tiffany Ellis, 44.

Fromelt said Jade Tracy considered Ellis to be his stepmother and that Clark was beaten for verbally abusing and "disrespecting" the woman. Fromelt said police believe Jade Tracy drove Clark in the bed of a pickup to within a block of his home, where he was dumped along Highland Road.

Clark died of his injuries the next day, on Sept. 30, at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas.

Fromelt said Tracy and Durand face prosecution for second-degree murder and that the other Tracy family members and Ellis are charged with hindering prosecution.

Police said the bloody pickup used to transport Clark was recovered in Golden Valley. Detectives were searching a landfill Thursday for a blood-soaked mattress and other evidence.