Ryan Lindsey (left) and Allison Cunningham
Murder victim Cody Stradford was alleged to have loudly begged two men to stop hitting him during a violent, and ultimately deadly, encounter at a Mountain Home residence on Dec.4 last year.
According to information just released by 14th Judicial District Prosecutor David Ethredge, 28-year-old Ryan Lindsey and 38-year-old Skylar Whitney Brazil are reported to have beaten the 35-year-old Stradford for up to an hour while he “begged for it to stop.”
It was also announced Monday that the death penalty will be sought for Lindsey and 42-year-old Allison Cunningham. Investigators report Lindsey and Cunningham have allegedly admitted to acquaintances they both shot Stradford at some point during the episode.
While the beating was in progress and Stradford was crying out for help, Cunningham and 35-year-old Ashley Nicole Hendricks of Siloam Springs were alleged to have stood by “looking on.”
Cunningham appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday and entered a not guilty plea to the charges against her, including capital murder.
According to the probable cause affidavit, during the incident, other people who were upstairs in the residence reported hearing a male “asking for help and pleading for the beating to stop.”
Investigators said the witnesses, reported to have been minors, left the upper part of the house and went into the backyard, looked through windows in the walkout-type basement and observed Lindsey and Brazil hitting Stradford.
They also told investigators Lindsey pointed a handgun at Stradford.
Stradford’s body was placed in his own vehicle a silver Dodge Charger — driven to a wooded area and set afire.
It was found Dec. 16 last year off Old Arkana Road south of Mountain Home. According to reports, the vehicle appeared to have been there for some time.
A burned body found in the vehicle was identified as Stradford’s by the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
Investigators say at one point during the beating, Lindsey demanded that Stradford give him his debit/ATM card, but that Stradford had replied there was only a few dollars in the account. According to the probable cause affidavit, Lindsey was holding a pistol on Stradford and asked the victim if he had any last words. Stradford is said to have replied, “just tell my son I am proud of him.”
The beating was reported to have been so severe that the basement area had “blood all over it.”
Brazil was arrested Dec. 16 last year after he was located at a local motel. He fled, but was captured a short time later, according to the affidavit.
After being taken into custody and read his rights, Brazil is alleged to have admitted participating in Stradford’s beating.
Benton County sheriff’s deputies and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Hendricks in mid-December last year at her residence in Siloam Springs.
Both Lindsey and Cunningham were taken into custody in south Texas near the U.S./Mexico border on Dec. 17.
According to information provided to KTLO, Classic Hits & The Boot News by the Texas Department of Public Safety in response to a Freedom of Information request, Lindsey and Cunningham were in separate vehicles.
Lindsey was driving a BMW Z4 convertible, reported stolen in Baxter County. Cunningham was in a blue Elantra. The DPS report did not indicate if the Elantra had been reported stolen.
In addition to charges stemming from Stradford’s murder, Lindsey is also accused of stealing the BMW he was driving when arrested in Texas, which the victim says is worth about $18,000.
Cunningham was returned to Arkansas Jan. 13 and Lindsey on Mar. 19. Lindsey was held in the Hidalgo County, Texas, jail longer because he had been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm in that state.
Lindsey is also charged in Arkansas with possession of the stolen handgun. The .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol had been taken from a residence in Summit on or about Nov. 21 last year.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the gun case, the weapon is the one that was in Lindsey’s possession when he was arrested in Texas.
It is now being held by the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office.
Cunningham is an inmate in the Baxter County jail with bond set at $1 million. Brazil is also in the county detention center with bond set at $500,000. Lindsey is currently being held in the state prison system on a parole violation.
Of the four people alleged to be involved in the murder, Hendricks is the only one not locked up. She is also the only one of the four to list an address outside this area.
Her bond was lowered from $500,000 to $250,000 and she was released from jail Jan. 28. She is required to wear an ankle monitor and to live with a relative in Northwest Arkansas.
Electronic court records show her with an active criminal case in Madison County.
She is charged with having simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms on July 19.
According to the information filed in the case, Hendricks had a firearm as well as methamphetamine, heroin, ecstasy and fentanyl with her when arrested.
A trial date of June 8 is now set in Madison County Circuit Court on those charges.
While the recently released information on the Stradford murder does not spell out exactly what brought the four suspects together or what caused them to lure Stradford to Brazil’s residence, public records do show that Brazil and Hendricks lived in Siloam Springs at one time.
Brazil has had a number of mainly drug-related criminal cases opened on him in Benton and Washington Counties. However, he has been accused of other crimes, including theft of property and intimidating a witness.
Lindsey is, by far, the best known locally of those charged with the Stradford murder.
He has a long criminal record stretching back to 2010 when he was a teenager.
After that first brush with the law, he had other criminal charges brought against him in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021.
In addition to the murder and car theft charges he now faces, Lindsey also had a criminal case open in which he is accused of being in possession of a motorcycle reported stolen in Mountain Home.
Through the years, Lindsey has been charged with possessing a defaced firearm, being a felon in possession of a weapon, residential burglary, theft of property, possession of contraband in the Baxter County Detention Center, theft by receiving and possessing drugs.
He has been locked up in the local jail and the state prison system.
Lindsey is alleged to have told investigators he “was in a gang and frequently beat people up” for money.
Lawyers have begun to formally enter their appearance for the defendants.
–Mark C. Lucas, an attorney practicing in Centerton had filed his formal entry as the defense attorney for Brazil. He has already filed a number of motions in his client’s case.
In one motion, Lucas asks that he be informed of the criminal history of witnesses and if any one set to testify in the case has “received preferential treatment” by prosecutors.
–Gary Mitchusson of Forrest City has entered his appearance for Cunningham. He was in court with his client during her appearance on Monday.
–Ben Burnett, a Mountain Home attorney, has been retained to represent Hendricks.
–Cody Dennis has put in an appearance for Lindsey.
The four people charged with killing Stradford are among 11 people waiting to go on trial for murder or manslaughter in Baxter County.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, no jury trials have been held for some time and will not be allowed to resume until next month.
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