GUILTY AR - Daniel Horton, 28, North Little Rock, 30 June 2014

A 28-year-old Conway man has been reported missing by his mother. Daniel Reid Horton was last reported to be in North Little Rock. Cell phone records show that he hasn’t used his phone since June 30, his mother, Michelle Collins said. Horton does not drive and does not have a driver’s license. For this reason, and for other reasons, Collins said, he may be in danger.

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Collins had hoped, and still does, that he has just decided to “drop off the radar.” But more than a month has passed without any trace of him. Collins is now publicly pleading for any tip — even the location of a body...

Conway Police Department Det. Brad Fornash is working the missing person case. Cell phone records that may show Horton’s location in the last few days his phone was on are being analyzed. Horton was using his phone almost around-the-clock from June 26 to 5:25 p.m. June 30, when phone activity stopped.

There is reason to think a certain area of Faulkner County may be of interest. Officials have searched some of this area, which is large and remote, as have members of Horton’s family.

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Daniel Horton, 28, was scheduled to return to Recovery Centers of Arkansas on June 30 but had called several people a couple of days before, asking them to pick him up. He hasn't been seen since. Police advised that Horton does have brain damage from an injury that left him disabled and in need of care.

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The Faulkner County Sheriff's Office said in a press release Monday they and the Conway Police Department discovered a body in a shallow grave Sept. 6...

Investigators had been following leads and were able to get a search warrant for the property of Gary Lee Mallet on Slately Gap Road in Damascus.

Horton's body was found in a shallow grave on Mallet's property. The Sheriff's Office said it appeared Horton had been shot and buried sometime after June 30.

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Gary Lee Mallet, a Faulkner County man arrested in North Dakota in connection with the murder of Daniel Horton, made his first appearance in Faulkner County Circuit Court today. His bond was set at $2 million.

Mallett, 28, has not been formally charged, but Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure allow the state to hold a person based on probable cause for 60 days without a formal indictment or criminal information document. Probable cause arrest warrants are generally sealed, as is the case with Mallett’s...

Faulkner County Chief Deputy Matt Rice said that the investigation was helped by work done by Horton’s mother, Michelle Collins, and the rest of Horton’s family and friends to find clues as to what happened to the young man...

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After hearing testimony from more than 20 witnesses, a jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about two and half hours and convicted Mallett of a lesser crime — manslaughter.

The jury deliberated for about another 20 minutes and sentenced Mallett to a maximum of 25 years in prison, with a $10,000 fine.

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