Sydney Sutherland: Quake Lewellyn says he 'messed' with nurse's corpse, 'tried to forget' about killing her
Arkansas farmer Quake Lewellyn, 28, charged with murdering and raping nurse Sydney Sutherland, was evaluated by a psychologist to determine the further course of action in the high-profile case. During the mental-health examination, he admitted that after he killed the victim he tried "messing with" her corpse, then went home, ate dinner, and "just tried to forget about it." After the chilling confession to a state psychologist, it was found that Lewellyn is mentally fit to stand trial for the death of the 25-year-old nurse who vanished while jogging in August 2020.
"It was all just a blur," Lewellyn, married stepfather of three, told psychologist Lacey Willett. He had spotted Sutherland walking down a gravel road while he was driving to check some wells and rice fields. By his account, he drove past her, turned around, and struck her with his truck, unable to see her in a cloud of dust. He claims he walked over to see if he was ok and believed she was dead at that point. Lewellyn claims he had not been drinking or using any drugs but he was "scared and afraid I was gonna be in trouble for running her over."
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Lewellyn didn't call 911 to get help, instead, he put her body in the tailgate of his truck with a mind to hide it. His narrative took a perverted turn after this point. He told the psychologist that he drove to a rice field to bury Sutherland's body but first undressed her and "tried messing with her a bit." His attorneys advised him not to explain exactly what he did. He then dug a hole and buried her, then went on with his day as though nothing had happened, the evaluation says, according to a Daily Beast report.
He returned to his farm after burying the body, spent the next two to three hours checking wells, went home, ate dinner, and went to bed. “He reported that he did not tell anyone what happened and ‘just tried to forget about it,’” the psychologist wrote in the evaluation report. Lewellyn's father called him to ask if he'd seen Sutherland after news of the disappearance spread. Lewellyn said he had seen her on the road and also reported the sighting to police the next day "still hoping he would not be caught," the report; he later confessed.
"I knew I didn't kill her on purpose," he told the evaluator and responded with "That I don't know," when asked why he didn't call 911. Lewellyn is being charged with capital murder, kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, and rape of Sutherland. He also claims to have barely known her despite going to the same high school as her. “It is my opinion that at the time of the alleged conduct, Mr. Lewellyn did not manifest symptoms of a mental disease or mental defect,” Willett wrote in her report. She also noted that Lewellyn "did not lack the capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct." His wife has filed for divorce since his arrest.