Jennifer Kornegay (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A Lakeview woman who gave her husband an unknown quantity of Fentynal alleged to have caused his death appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Fifty-one-year-old Jennifer Kornegay pled guilty to the charges in two cases and was sentenced to six years in prison.
She was facing charges of manslaughter, introduction of a controlled substance into the body of another person, possession of a controlled substance, two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of animal cruelty.
In addition, she picked up charges of possessing Fentynal in mid-April last year after being found passed out in a room at the Mountain Inn.
The introducing charge is a Class Y felony, the most serious classification of crimes in Arkansas not punishable by death. A Class Y felony carries a potential maximum sentence of life in prison.
On May 20, 2023, around 2 a.m., the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a possible Fentanyl overdose at a residence along Arkansas Highway 178.
When officers and first responders arrived, they began life saving measures but were unable to revive Jarad Kornegay, and the Baxter County Coroner’s Office was notified.
Investigators determined that Jarad and Jennifer Kornegay, along with their daughter and her two infants lived in the residence and were at home at the time of the incident
Jennifer Kornegay told police that her husband had asked for a painkiller, and she had given him Fentanyl. No amount was mentioned in the probable cause affidavit.
In the couple’s bedroom, officers found drugs and drug paraphernalia in plain sight and accessible to the infants living in the home.
On Jennifer Kornegay’s side of the bed, investigators located a pill that had been broken into pieces and was suspected of being the Fentanyl she had given her husband.
The Fentanyl was described as “not prescription,” but a “street drug.”
An autopsy was done at the State Medical Examiner’s Office and Jarad Kornegay’s cause of death was listed as Fentynal, Oxycodone and methamphetamine toxicity.
The officer took various drugs into evidence along with digital scales, needles and smoking pipes.
Officers on scene described the home as “worse than a mess and not suitable for small children to be living in.” They reported trash and filth everywhere, and the smell of animal urine and feces was said to have been “exceptionally strong.”
It was reported that Jennifer Kornegay went to Texas with another man at one point and left four dogs at the residence after power had been turned off.
A “friend” was reported to have been in charge of the animals but was reported not to have performed the task very well, and one dog died. The other three canines were rescued.
Kornegay was also arrested in mid-April when she was found passed out in a room at the Mountain Home Inn.
Drugs and drug paraphernalia were reported to have been found in the room. Two doses of Narcan were administered to bring Kornegay around.
The drug found in the room field-tested positive for Fentanyl, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Kornegay’s attorney, Ben Burnett of Mountain Home, asked that the court give Kornegay until March 24 at noon to turn herself in. Burnett told the court his client needed to time to get her affairs in order before being transported to prison.
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