The final segment on this series of the 2016 Year in Review will focus on local crimes and sentencings.
GRAYHAM, MYNK AND ROOS SENTENCED IN RICE MURDERS
In 2016, three area young people, Nicholas Roos, Zach Grayham and Mikayla Jordan Mynk, all admitted to their roles in the killing of an elderly Midway couple, Donald and LaDonna Rice, and the burning of their home in November 2015. The three received prison sentences ranging from life without parole to 20 years.
Roos entered a guilty plea May 24th to capital murder and arson charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Grayham pled guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and aggravated residential burglary August 25th and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Mynk entered a guilty plea to reduced charges including aggravated residential burglary and theft by receiving August 9th and was sentenced to 20 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction to be followed by 15 years probation.
Affidavits filed in the cases detailed the movements of the trio on the day the of the murders. Investigators were told that the three young people arrived at the home of Donald and LaDonna Rice about 1 p.m. on November 7th. Mynk dropped her two male companions off and left the scene.
Roos was reported to have rung the doorbell and when LaDonna Rice opened the door and he told her his vehicle had broken down and asked for help. She called her husband to the door and Roos pulled a handgun, pointing it at Donald Rice. When he grabbed at the weapon and Roos told investigators he shot him. Roos told investigators Mrs. Rice started screaming and he entered the residence, grabbed her and threw her on the floor. He said while she was looking up at him, he shot her in the head.
Grayham said he was outside when Roos barged into the Rice home and he heard two shots. He said when he entered the house, he saw two bodies just inside the front door.
Roos said he and Grayham began to take property from the house and put them into a white truck belonging to the Rice couple that was parked in the garage of the home. The items included a large screen television set, items from a safe, a .38 caliber revolver and a chain saw.
Grayham told investigators he initially became involved when Roos and Mynk stopped at his residence and asked if he would help them move some appliances at Roos’ father’s home in Clarkridge. Grayham said when they were traveling to Clarkridge, Roos told him they were going to stop at a friend’s home. He said Roos told Mynk where to stop and the two men went up the driveway to the Rice home.
Grayham said after the initial shots were fired inside the house, Roos threatened to kill Grayham if he did not help remove items from the Rice home. Grayham said he feared for his life and felt he would be shot if he did not do what Roos wanted.
Before leaving the residence, Roos is reported to have located a can of gasoline in the Rice’s garage, poured it on an upstairs couch and set it ablaze. They also burned the truck taken from the Rice home.
Investigators were able to tie property taken from the Rice home to the three people and they were, in short order, arrested and charged with the Rice murders.
After entering prison, Roos wasted little time in filing a Rule 37 Petition seeking post conviction relief. Rule 37 Petitions are filed frequently, particularly by inmates in the state prison system. The petitions are often based on the claim that the convicted person received inadequate legal representation.
Roos, in fact, does make such a claim in his filing. He alleges, among other things, his two appointed attorneys did not investigate his claimed mental health problems. He contends he pled guilty based largely on the deficient performance and advice of his attorneys. A hearing on his petition is set for late January.
PRIME SUSPECT IN FOREMAN HIT AND RUN IDENTIFIED
Another crime that occurred in early November of 2015 came to a conclusion in October when Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery announced the prime suspect in the hit-and-run accident that killed 63-year-old Douglas Foreman of Mountain Home had taken his own life. The sheriff said his office was within hours of serving an arrest warrant on 19-year-old Bobby Don Dutton-Morris when he was informed that Dutton-Morris had died from a drug overdose.
Montgomery said that in May, a confidential informant provided the name of a potential suspect who had not yet been considered and investigators were able to tie Dutton-Morris to the accident.
Investigators learned that Dutton-Morris had driven to a mobile home park in Midway and went to a residence where several witnesses were present. They said Dutton-Morris was very upset and described him as frantic. He allegedly said he had “hit someone” and needed a change of clothing. He is said to have burned the clothing he had been wearing in the backyard of the residence.
Montgomery says Dutton-Morris refused at one point to come in for an interview and in an interview with an investigator on June 10th but made no statements. He was interviewed again on July 20th but asked for an attorney and refused to make any statements.
Before a warrant could be served on Dutton-Morris, investigators were notified he had overdosed at a residence in Marion County. It was undetermined if the overdose was accidental or intentional.
After his death, a member of Dutton-Morris’ family said the young man had confessed he had run over Foreman, according to the release.
The investigation into the hit-and-run incident was launched when Foreman’s wife reported he had left home to go bicycle riding about 10 the evening of November 2 and had not returned by the time she made the call just before 4 a.m. the next day.
Foreman’s wife provided the Sheriff’s Office with some of the routes her husband often took when riding his bike. She said he had been wearing a yellow neon shirt and black bicycle shorts, and the bicycle had a front headlight and a red flashing rear light.
Prior to reporting the situation to the Sheriff’s Office, Foreman’s wife and children had been searching for him, driving up and down various routes they thought he might have taken including Old Tracy Ferry Road, Tracy Ferry Road and State Highway 5 South.
They also went to Baxter Regional Medical Center where Foreman was a long-time employee working as a registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer, but could find no trace of Foreman or his bicycle.
At about 4:13 a.m., November 3rd of last year, Sheriff’s Deputy Craig Gates found the body of the missing man on Old Military Road. Foreman had apparently been struck by a motor vehicle and was unresponsive. Emergency medical personnel responded to the scene, but found that Foreman had not survived his injuries.
TEETER PLEADS GUILTY TO CHARGES OF MANSLAUGHTER
In March, 32 year old Terry Teeter, Jr. of Mountain Home pled guilty to charges of manslaughter and received 10 years in prison.
Teeter was involved in a head-on collision on State Highway 5 North that took the life of 22-year-old Christopher Jordan in mid-December of last year.
A sample of Teeter’s blood tested positive for several controlled substances leading to the charges of manslaughter.
CODY ALLEN CHARGED WITH CAPITAL MURDER IN DEATH OF TWO YEAR OLD GIRL
Twenty-three year old Cody Allen of Mountain Home was charged with capital murder in connection with the death of the nearly two-year old daughter of his girlfriend, 21 year old Anastasia Weaver, also of Mountain Home.
The child, Alithia Ivory Boyd, was found unresponsive at a Flippin apartment complex on May first. It was first reported the child had fallen down a flight of stairs. She was flow to Mercy Hospital in Springfield where she died five days later. Medical personnel told law enforcement they believed the injuries were not due to an accident.
Charges of manslaughter and permitting child abuse have been filed against the child’s mother. The state is seeking the death penalty against Allen, who is being held in the Varner Unit of the Arkansas State Prison System.
STONE COUNTY COUPLE CHARGED WITH CHILD’S MURDER
First degree murder charges have been filed against 29 year old Victoria Dycus and her boyfriend, 31 year old James “Hagen” Glenn, both of Stone County, in connection with the death of her four year old daughter, Skylar Shellstrum. They are being held in the Stone County jail with bond set at one million dollars each.
Emergency personnel responded to a residence on Herpel Road in Mountain View on November 19th where a child was reported not breathing. The child was transported the Stone County Medical Center where she was declared dead. The attending physician believed the death was a homicide and the body was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s office for autopsy.
Results from the autopsy where released in late November listing the cause of death as blunt force trauma. It also noted the body had multiple bruises and contusions in various stages of healing. The couple was arrested following an investigation and the execution of a search warrant at their residence.
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