Kimberly Rankins is held on a $750,000 bond in the death of Telem Fairchild.

A bond set at a first appearance is a custody order. It is not a conviction, and Texarkana Today reported that as of Wednesday prosecutors had not yet filed a formal charging document. Rankins is due back in Miller County Circuit Court at 9 a.m. Oct. 20. What is on the public record now is an arrest, a bond prosecutors recommended, and a police account of a fight the night before Fairchild was found dead.

Texarkana Today, citing the record of her first court appearance in Miller County Circuit Court, reported that Kimberly Rankins was arrested Oct. 4 by the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department in the death of Telem Fairchild, 29. She appeared before a judge Oct. 5, a public defender was appointed, and the judge set bond at $750,000, the amount prosecutors recommended. She is due back in court at 9 a.m. Oct. 20. Texarkana Today reported that as of Wednesday no bond had been posted and she remained in the Miller County jail. A recommended bond that has not been posted is a jail status. It is not a plea.

Texarkana Today, citing police, reported officers were called about 5:38 a.m. Sunday to the Ozan Gardens apartments at 3302 Washington St., formerly Smith Keys Apartments. A man was lying face down on the ground. He appeared to have been dead for several hours and had minor injuries to his face. A stab wound to his torso was discovered after the Miller County coroner's office arrived. Detectives determined that Rankins and Fairchild had been in a physical fight at the same address around 11 p.m. Saturday. Rankins lives at the complex. Fairchild's body was sent to the state crime lab in Little Rock for an autopsy. That is the police account of the scene and of the fight. It is not a verdict, and the autopsy result is not in the reporting used here.

Texarkana Today reported prosecutors had not yet filed a formal charging document in the case as of Wednesday. The outlet reported first-degree murder is a Class Y felony in Arkansas, punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison. Arkansas court records, as Texarkana Today described them, show no prior criminal cases for Rankins. A note that no prior case appears in those records is a records check. It is not a character finding, and the absence of a filed information means the charging paper itself is still ahead of this appearance. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.