A Baxter County jury convicted Ryan James Lindsey of capital murder on Friday in the 2020 killing of Cody Stradford and sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The trial, which lasted five days, concluded in the criminal division of the Baxter County Circuit Court, with Circuit Judge Andrew Bailey presiding.
Alongside the capital murder conviction, Lindsey, 33, of Mountain Home, faced additional charges of kidnapping, second-degree battery, and arson. The jury sentenced him to an extra 15 years in prison and imposed fines totaling $12,500.
According to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, the case began on Dec. 16, 2020, when a caller reported finding a burned-out vehicle containing human remains along Old Arkana Road, just south of Mountain Home. Deputies determined the vehicle likely had been at the location for several days. Stradford’s parents had reported him missing earlier that month after losing contact with him for several days.
Authorities confirmed the identity of the remains as Stradford, 35, on Dec. 22, following an investigation by the Arkansas State Medical Examiner’s Office. State police subsequently determined Stradford had been assaulted at a residence in Mountain Home before being transported to the site where his car was burned.
Law enforcement agencies, including the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, the Mountain Home Police Department, and the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division, executed search warrants at the vehicle site, a Mountain Home residence, and another residence east of the city.
On the night Stradford’s body was discovered, authorities apprehended a suspect, Skylar Whitney Brazil, who fled on foot before being located by a K-9 unit from the Arkansas Department of Correction. In the following days, investigators pursued other leads, resulting in the Dec. 17 arrest of Lindsey and Allison June Beckham Cunningham near Brownsville, Texas. The Texas Department of Public Safety, working alongside Baxter County officials, facilitated their capture. That same day, Ashley Nicole Hendricks was arrested at a Siloam Springs home by Benton County deputies and the FBI. All four suspects were returned to Baxter County, where bond for each was set at $1 million.
Initially charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping, Lindsey ultimately stood trial on charges of capital murder, kidnapping, second-degree battery, and arson. Capital murder in Arkansas carries only two potential sentences—death or life without parole. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for most of the case’s history but withdrew the request during the trial, according to court documents.
The other defendants—Brazil, Cunningham, and Hendricks—remain charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and second-degree battery. Brazil and Cunningham each face additional weapons charges, while Cunningham also faces an arson charge. Their jury trials are scheduled to begin Oct. 19 in Baxter County Circuit Court, where they will be presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Lindsey’s case was prosecuted by the 14th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. He will serve his life sentence in the custody of the Arkansas Division of Correction.