A Yellville man who was 19 at the time of his arrest for first-degree murder entered a guilty plea to reduced charges Thursday and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Twenty-three-year-old Caleb William Nance was charged in the mid-March 2020 shooting death of then 49-year-old Jerry Don Hensley. Nance told authorities he acted in self-defense when he believed Hensley was reaching for a weapon.
He pled to the reduced charge of second-degree murder. He also pled guilty to tampering with evidence.
It has taken some time to bring the case to a close. Nance was a pre-trial detainee in the Marion County jail for 1,480 days.
There were several conflicting stories told about the incident in the early stages of the investigation.
Nance called authorities on March 26, 2020, and told them where to find Hensley’s body. He claimed at that time that he had accompanied his father to check on the mail and discovered the body near a white motorcycle at the intersection of Spring Lake Lane and Marion County Road 5019 in St. Joe.
Nance had said at one point he was alone and checking on the mail at the time of the shooting. He said he had been carrying a 30-30 rifle to protect him from bears.
Nance’s father initially told investigators that he was not aware of Hensley’s death until he and his son found the body after noticing buzzards circling the area while checking the mail .
Later, he said he had allegedly been told about the death by someone at Creekside Nursing Home. The “person” also shared that Hensley had been shot in the head and chest.
FACTS BEGAN TO COME OUT
When both father and son were eventually brought in for questioning, the younger Nance is reported to have told investigators he had shot Hensley and had then gone home and told him what had happened — claiming the action was in self-defense.
Nance said his father went to the scene of the shooting to “look for anything that would help” his son prove the self-defense claim.
The father is alleged to have cleaned the rifle, wrapped it in plastic and hid it under an abandoned house next to their property. Nance said he had watched a lot of “cop shows” on television and had learned “to get rid of evidence” by cleaning the weapon used in the commission of a crime.
A search warrant was issued for the abandoned house and the weapon was recovered. According to investigative records, the father said at one point there were no weapons kept at his home.
Nance’s father, 67-year-old William Dean Nance, is charged with tampering with physical evidence, hindering apprehension and obstructing governmental operations.
He is currently set to go on trial in Marion County Circuit Court May 6. One condition added to the son’s plea agreement requires the younger Nance to be truthful in any information he provides in his fathers case.
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