Husband accused of murdering wife almost nine months after she’s found fatally shot in car on Arkansas highway

The husband of a woman found murdered in a parked car on an Arkansas highway near her home last spring was arrested in connection to the slaying, police say.

On Feb. 19, police took Jason Ross Dunigan, 39, into custody and charged him with capital murder for the death of 36-year-old Amber Dunigan of Fayetteville, KNWA-TV reported.

He was released from the Washington County jail on a $250,000 bond.

In a Feb. 17 court filing obtained by the station, prosecutors alleged “the defendant shot his wife in the head” and acted with “premeditated and deliberated purpose of causing the death of another person.”

On May 28, 2021, just before 10 p.m., the victim failed to return home from her jobs managing two Supercuts hair salons. Her father-in-law, James Dunigan, found her murdered in her car on Arkansas Highway 16 after he searched for her along the route she would have travel for her jobs between Siloam Springs and Fayetteville, KNWA-TV reported at the time.

“Amber was one of the kindest souls you could ever meet. She never had a bad thing to say about anyone. She was a very positive person that always had a smile on her face,” Joy Huffaker, the victim’s coworker, told KNWA of the “loyal, honest and motivated employee” and mother of a young son.