Mikayla Jordan Mynk, one of three people sentenced to prison for playing a part in the murders of an elderly Midway couple in early November 2015 and the burning of their home, has been turned down in her bid to seal certain records in her case. The decision by Circuit Judge Gordon Webb came after a hearing Tuesday.
Specifically, Mynk’s lawyer, Toney Brasuell of Little Rock, is asking for records to be sealed pertaining to charges against his client eventually dismissed by the state.
Initially, Mynk was charged with two counts of capital murder and two counts of arson. Those charges were dismissed when the investigation into the murders indicated Mynk played a more minor role than her two male companions — Nicholas Roos and Zach Grayham. All three of those charged were in their 20s when the crimes occurred.
Mynk eventually pled guilty to reduced charges of aggravated residential burglary and theft of property. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by 15 years probation. She is an inmate in the Wrightsville Unit for women in the state prison system.
Judge Webb denied a similar petition filed by Brasuell in 2017. Brasuell was basically asking the court to reconsider that decision in Tuesday’s hearing. Judge Webb said he would let his earlier ruling not to seal the records pertaining to the dismissed charges stand, but said Brasuell could refile the petition at a later date, and he could reconsider the issue at that time.
Fourteenth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge said the state was opposed to Mynk’s request and wants the records on the dismissed charges held open at least until she finishes her prison sentence.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed at the time of the murders, Mynk dropped off Roos and Grayham at Donald and LaDonna Rice’s residence located along County Road 508 and then left to attend a funeral.
LaDonna Rice is reported to have opened the door. Roos told her his vehicle had broken down, and she called her husband, Donald, to see if he could help.
Roos is alleged to have shot Donald Rice first and then his wife. According to the probable cause affidavit, after seeing Roos was armed, Donald Rice struggled with the younger man before being shot in the face. Roos told investigators LaDonna Rice began screaming, he threw her to the floor and shot her in the head as she looked up at him.
Donald and LaDonna Rice — both in their 70s — had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary shortly before they were murdered.
After Roos and Grayham took a number of items from the house and loaded them into a pickup truck belonging to the Rice couple, Roos set the house on fire and left with Grayham in the stolen vehicle.
The stolen truck — a 2015 GMC Sierra Denali — was later found burned near Bruce Creek off County Road 1.
The fire at the Rice home was originally reported by a passerby who flagged down an Arkansas State Police trooper. When fire crews arrived, the Rices’ spacious home was fully engulfed. After the blaze was extinguished and the rubble cooled sufficiently, law officers from a number of agencies — including specialized arson investigators from the Arkansas State Police — picked through the massive amount of debris, with assistance from heavy equipment provided by the county road and bridge department.
Eventually, the remains of the Rice couple were discovered and identified using DNA matching. At one of the hearings in the case, it was mentioned Donald Rice had soot in his lungs, indicating he was likely alive when Roos set fire to the house.
When she pled guilty to reduced charges in August 2016, Mynk — who was in a dating relationship with Roos at the time of the murders — said she knew there was a plan to commit a residential burglary, but told the court she had no knowledge Roos had any intention of killing Donald and LaDonna Rice.
According to court records, Roos’ apparent motive in planning the burglary was to obtain cash to hire a lawyer to represent him in a child custody case.
Roos, an inmate in the Varner Unit of the state prison system, is appealing his life without parole sentence. Grayham was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is an inmate in the Wrightsville-Hawkins men’s unit.
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