Arkansas Woman Held Without Bond for Role in Attempted Murder of US Marshal in Oxford

A United States Magistrate Judge has ordered that an Arkansas woman be held without bond following her arrest last Friday for aiding and abetting the attempted murder of a Deputy U.S. Marshal in Oxford who was acting in the line of duty.

Xaveriana Cook, 23, appeared in U.S. Magistrate Court on Wednesday for a preliminary and detention hearing on multiple charges stemming from a shoot-out that occurred on South Lamar Boulevard in Oxford on May 15, 2020, when U.S. Marshals attempted to arrest Cook’s boyfriend, Hunter Carlstrom, on an outstanding murder warrant out of Arkansas.

Hunter J. Carlstrom

The arrest warrant charged Carlstrom with the May 5 murder of James Sartorelli, a/k/a “Caveman,” who was killed with a gunshot wound to the head in his Smithville, Arkansas residence.

Testimony revealed that Carlstrom and Cook were together in Cook’s vehicle on Friday when members of the U.S. Marshal’s Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle in an attempt to arrest Carlstrom on the outstanding murder warrant. During the lunch-hour traffic stop, Carlstrom shot a Deputy U.S. Marshal, who sustained severe internal injuries as a result of the gunshot wound and required emergency surgery.

Carlstrom was shot by return fire from law enforcement and died on the scene.

Cook, who had been driving the vehicle, was taken into custody by law enforcement.

Cook is charged by criminal complaint with transportation of stolen firearms, possession of stolen firearms, and aiding and abetting the attempt to kill an officer of the United States while the officer was engaged in the performance of official duties.

Evidence was presented at the hearing that Carlstrom told Cook of his plan to kill Sartorelli and rob him of drugs, guns and cash, and that he used Cook’s vehicle to travel to Sartorelli’s house and commit the murder. Upon returning, Carlstrom told Cook he killed Sartorelli, and Cook observed Carlstrom in possession of firearms, cash and drugs.

Testimony established that law enforcement officers in Arkansas located the body of James Sartorelli on May 7, and an Arkansas County Circuit Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Hunter Carlstrom for that murder on May 11. However, by that time, Cook and Carlstrom had fled Arkansas, traveling in Cook’s car to Mississippi, where they stayed with acquaintances from May 7, until May 15.

An investigating agent testified at Cook’s detention hearing that Cook admitted Carlstrom had told her on multiple occasions that he would not go back to prison and that he would have a shoot-out with the cops if he and Cook were ever stopped by law enforcement. On May 15, 2020, after the attempt to arrest Carlstrom and the ensuing shoot-out, law enforcement officers searched the scene and found a stolen Glock, 9mm handgun.

In addition, officers searched the residence where Carlstrom and Cook had been staying for the previous week and located two firearms that had been stolen from James Sartorelli’s house.

After hearing approximately three hours of testimony on Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Roy Percy found that Cook presented a risk of flight and ordered that Cook be held in jail without a bond pending trial.

The case is being prosecuted by AUSA Clyde McGee and AUSA Clay Dabbs.

Staff report