Kristy Leedham-Johnston (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A murder investigation beginning Saturday evening in Baxter County led to the arrest of a rural Mountain Home woman. Thirty-eight-year-old Kristy Shay Leedham-Johnston is in the Baxter County Detention Center on a charge of first-degree murder after the body of 48-year-old Mark Dennis Mucha of Mountain Home was located.
According to Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, his office was contacted just before 7 Saturday evening and was asked to send a deputy to an address on County Road 672 to speak to a male in regards to having someone removed from a residence at a different location. The caller alleged a man had been “hanging around” his daughter, identified as Leedham-Johnston, for the past couple of days. He said his daughter had been “acting up” and requested a welfare check on her at a residence on Old Arkana Road.
Two deputies arrived at the Old Arkana Road residence, approached the front door and found a deceased male laying partially outside of the open threshold of the doorway with blood on and around him. They later went to the back side of the residence and found Leedham-Johnston outside peeking into the residence through the back door. When deputies called to her, she immediately raised her hands and reportedly stated, “He’s a really bad guy. I did what I had to do to get away.”
A search warrant was executed just after 11, and a wound consistent with a bullet entry was reportedly found on the victim’s body. The deceased male was identified as Mucha. Just outside of the residence, a handgun and knife were found and were among the items seized for evidence by investigators. Mucha’s body was removed by the Baxter County Coroner’s Office.
Leedham-Johnston reportedly refused to answer questions about the incident and asked for an attorney. Her murder charge is a Class Y felony, the most serious classification of crime in Arkansas not punishable by death. Leedham-Johnston’s bond is set at $250,000, and she will appear in Baxter County Circuit Court at a later date.
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