A Maumelle man is facing a first-degree murder charge over the shooting death of his 21-year-old stepson, and the case has now pulled a second family death back into the open: the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office has reopened its investigation into the September death of the accused man's wife, which authorities had ruled a suicide.

Source: KARK / Law&Crime reporting

Scott Strauss, 50, was arrested on Saturday, November 7, after Maumelle police responded to a report of a suicide attempt at a home on Village Way in Maumelle, Arkansas, a city in Pulaski County just northwest of Little Rock. Officers found his stepson, Michael Hudson Page, 21, dead of gunshot wounds, and police said the evidence at the scene did not support the claim that Page had taken his own life, according to reporting by Little Rock NBC affiliate KARK.

The Maumelle Police Department announced in a news release that Scott Strauss has been charged with murder in the first degree and tampering with physical evidence. Those charges are allegations. Strauss is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court, and he has not been charged in connection with his wife's death.

Source: Maumelle Police Department news release, via TriArk Radio

A morning call that became a murder case

Police were called to the Village Way home late on Saturday morning, November 7. The Maumelle Police Department said there was an increased police presence in the area at the time of the incident and stated that there was no threat to the public. The department initially did not release the victim's name, saying it would be released at a later date; Page was later identified in reporting as Strauss's 21-year-old stepson.

Strauss was taken to the Pulaski County Jail, and police initially said he was being held without bond. After a court appearance, published reports said he had pleaded not guilty, that bond had been set at $250,000, and that he was being held at the Pulaski County Regional Detention Center, with his next court appearance scheduled for January 26, 2027.

The September death now under review

Less than seven weeks before Page's death, Strauss's wife and Page's mother, Bridget Strauss, 49, died in September — she died on September 23, according to published reports — in a death that authorities ruled a suicide. That ruling closed the matter at the time, and no one was charged in connection with her death.

That position has now changed. The Pulaski County Sheriff's Office confirmed to media outlets including KARK and ABC affiliate KATV that it is reopening the investigation into Bridget Strauss's death, in the sheriff's office's words, "in light of recent events in Maumelle." The sheriff's office did not share specific details about what prompted it to reopen the case.

Two agencies, two separate cases

The two deaths sit with two different agencies. The November 7 death on Village Way is a Maumelle Police Department case inside the city, and it is the case in which the murder and evidence-tampering charges were filed. The September death is a Pulaski County Sheriff's Office matter, and it is that agency — not the city police — that has reopened its file. Keeping the two cases separate matters: a charge in one case is not evidence in the other, and each investigation will stand or fall on its own evidence.

For Maumelle, a suburban community northwest of Little Rock, the case has meant two deaths in one household inside seven weeks, a murder charge against the stepfather, and a county review of a death that had been ruled a suicide. Police have released few details about what was found inside the Village Way home, and the public record so far consists mainly of the department's short release and the sheriff's confirmation that the September file is open again.

What happens next

Strauss is scheduled to appear in court again on January 26, 2027, on the first-degree murder and tampering charges, and he remains in custody on the reported $250,000 bond. The Maumelle Police Department has described its investigation as ongoing and said information will be released as it becomes available. The sheriff's reopened review of Bridget Strauss's death has no announced timeline, and authorities have not said whether it will change the ruling in her death or lead to any further charge.