Boston Corbett
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Nightmarish case involving the influential Snowden family:
Woman found dead at Horseshoe Lake, where mother was killed 24 years earlier (Commercial Appeal)
A man convicted in one of the most infamous murders in recent Mid-South history appears to have killed the daughter of one of his original victims, 24 years later.
Martha McKay — a member of the influential Snowden family that once owned the Peabody hotel — was found dead late Wednesday morning at her home, the historic Snowden House at Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas.
The suspect in the killing is Travis Santay Lewis, according to Crittenden County Sheriff Mike Allen. Lewis was 17 when he pleaded guilty to the 1996 Horseshoe Lake murders of McKay's mother, Sally Snowden McKay, and Sally McKay's nephew, Lee Baker, a popular Memphis blues/rock guitarist.
Lewis, 39, had been paroled in 2018, according to Allen. He had been charged as an adult in connection with the 1996 murders.
"Deputies today responded to an alarm at the historical Snowden House in Horseshoe Lake," Allen said. "Two deputies that arrived found an open back door and upon clearing the house located a possible suspect who jumped from an upstairs window and ran to a vehicle that he drove across the yard and got stuck in the yard.
"The suspect then jumped from the car and ran and jumped into the lake. He was observed going under the water and never came back up."
...
Allen said the state medical examiner will determine the cause of death. Neighbors, who asked not to be identified, reported that deputies told them McKay — who was in her mid-60s — had been stabbed, while others said a hammer was the weapon.
Built in 1919, the Snowden House is located several houses away from the Sally McKay home where McKay, 75, and Baker, 52, were found shot to death on Sept. 10, 1996.
...
Lewis — who lived at Horseshoe Lake and whose parents lived on Snowden-owned property — pleaded guilty to the two murders on April 7, 1998, the day his Circuit Court trial was about to begin in Marion, Arkansas. He was sentenced to 28 1/2 years. [much more at the link]
A man convicted in one of the most infamous murders in recent Mid-South history appears to have killed the daughter of one of his original victims, 24 years later.
Martha McKay — a member of the influential Snowden family that once owned the Peabody hotel — was found dead late Wednesday morning at her home, the historic Snowden House at Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas.
The suspect in the killing is Travis Santay Lewis, according to Crittenden County Sheriff Mike Allen. Lewis was 17 when he pleaded guilty to the 1996 Horseshoe Lake murders of McKay's mother, Sally Snowden McKay, and Sally McKay's nephew, Lee Baker, a popular Memphis blues/rock guitarist.
Lewis, 39, had been paroled in 2018, according to Allen. He had been charged as an adult in connection with the 1996 murders.
"Deputies today responded to an alarm at the historical Snowden House in Horseshoe Lake," Allen said. "Two deputies that arrived found an open back door and upon clearing the house located a possible suspect who jumped from an upstairs window and ran to a vehicle that he drove across the yard and got stuck in the yard.
"The suspect then jumped from the car and ran and jumped into the lake. He was observed going under the water and never came back up."
...
Allen said the state medical examiner will determine the cause of death. Neighbors, who asked not to be identified, reported that deputies told them McKay — who was in her mid-60s — had been stabbed, while others said a hammer was the weapon.
Built in 1919, the Snowden House is located several houses away from the Sally McKay home where McKay, 75, and Baker, 52, were found shot to death on Sept. 10, 1996.
...
Lewis — who lived at Horseshoe Lake and whose parents lived on Snowden-owned property — pleaded guilty to the two murders on April 7, 1998, the day his Circuit Court trial was about to begin in Marion, Arkansas. He was sentenced to 28 1/2 years. [much more at the link]
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