Paulette T. Cosolo

In the quiet, rural community of Mount Vernon, Arkansas, Paulette T. Cosolo was known as a devoted, 35-year-old single mother to her 11-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. The tranquility of their life in Johnson County was shattered in the final days of August 1989, leaving her children without their mother and a community with questions that have lingered for decades.

The evening of Thursday, August 24, 1989, began with a normal family routine. Paulette took her children on a shopping trip to a Walmart in Ozark. Afterwards, she dropped her daughter off to stay at her mother's house and returned to her own home with her young son. She was last seen by her son at around 9 p.m. Later that night, the boy reportedly saw unfamiliar visitors at their home. The interaction would be the last time he ever saw his mother.

In the pre-dawn hours, at about 3 a.m., the six-year-old woke up and realized his mother was gone. Frightened and alone in the house, he called his grandmother to tell her he couldn't find his mom. The discovery that Paulette had vanished was immediate and alarming. Inside her home, her purse, money, cigarettes, and shoes were all left behind, signaling to her family that she had not planned to go anywhere and likely knew the person or people she left with. Her in-laws later told reporters that the killer must have been familiar with the area, as the road leading to her house led nowhere else.

A desperate search began, but it came to a horrific end two days later. On the evening of August 26, 1989, a group of swimmers discovered Paulette’s partially clothed body in a wooded area within 100 yards of Lake Ludwig, a reservoir just a few miles from Clarksville. An autopsy confirmed she had been brutally murdered, having suffered multiple gunshot wounds from a.25 caliber weapon.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office immediately launched a homicide investigation, requesting the assistance of the Arkansas State Police. Investigators worked tirelessly, developing several suspects. According to reports from the time, at least seven individuals were questioned and given polygraph tests. Four of them reportedly failed. One of these suspects, who still lived near Clarksville years later, had an alibi for the time Paulette was missing, but police noted inconsistencies in his statements. Despite the promising leads and multiple persons of interest, the Johnson County Sheriff told reporters in 1989 that there simply wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone with the crime.

For years, the case grew cold, filed away but never forgotten by law enforcement or the family that Paulette left behind. Her children grew up with the pain of her absence, missing countless birthdays and holidays with their mother. The murder left a lasting scar on the small community, where many residents were impacted by the violent loss.

As of December 2024, the investigation into Paulette Cosolo's murder is classified as an open and active cold case, identified by case number 74-503-89. In 2018, a new investigator was assigned to the case and began re-interviewing people connected to the original inquiry. In a significant development, the Arkansas State Police confirmed that evidence from the case has been resubmitted to the state crime lab for modern testing, offering a renewed sense of hope that forensic technology may finally provide the answers that have been sought for over three decades.

Police believe someone in the Clarksville area has information that could solve this case. Anyone who may have seen or heard something, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is urged to contact the Arkansas State Police Company E at (870) 741-2136 or the Clarksville Police Department at (479) 754-8100.