Arkansas woman murdered by same man who slayed her mother 24 years ago after he was released on parole
HORSESHOE LAKE, ARKANSAS: An Arkansas woman was allegedly murdered on Wednesday, March 25, by the same suspect who killed her mother and her cousin on the same property at Horseshoe Lake around 24 years ago, authorities revealed.
Travis Santay Lewis, 39, has been suspected of killing Martha McKay, 63, a member of the influential Snowden family. Lewis drowned while he was fleeing from authorities, Crittenden County Sheriff Mike Allen revealed in a statement. According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Allen shared, "Deputies today responded to an alarm at the historical Snowden House in Horseshoe Lake."
"Two deputies that arrived found an open back door and upon clearing the house located a possible suspect who jumped from an upstairs window and ran to a vehicle that he drove across the yard and got stuck in the yard," Allen added.
"The suspect then jumped from the car and ran and jumped into the lake. He was observed going under the water and never came back up," the statement continued. As per the Sheriff, the department's rescue team and Arkansas Game and Fish had used sonar equipment in order to find Lewis' body.
McKay was found inside the house and a state medical examiner is still determining the cause of death. Witnesses at the scene claim that she was stabbed while others say that a hammer was used to kill McKay.
The Snowden house was built in 1919 and is only a few miles from where McKay's mother Sally Snowden McKay was murdered with her nephew in 1996. At the time, Lewis was 17 and pleaded guilty to killing McKay and nephew, guitarist Lee Baker, in 1996.
As a result of his crimes, Lewis was sentenced to 28-and-a-half years in prison. He was paroled in 2018.
In a 2015 interview, McKay told Memphis magazine that growing up on Horseshoe Lake was "just wonderful". At the time, she had shared, "I felt like I was royalty, with the big house and servants. Everything was fresh from the garden, fresh eggs and all, and we even had a peach orchard. We got to swim every day, and it was just ideal."
Sheriff Allen said, "I met her a few times and she was a nice, interesting lady. She really restored that place back to its original beauty. It’s such a tragedy, and, well, mind-boggling that a 16-year-old would commit these murders and then you know, allegedly come back and do something so horrible again."
McKay had moved to Horshoe Lake from San Francisco post her mother's death and had turned Snowden House into a lavish bed-and-breakfast and also a wedding venue. The property had also been a location for a 1994 movie called 'The Client' which is an adaptation of the John Grisham murder mystery.
There are also reports that Martha was in touch with Lewis while he was in prison and also after he was released. "I think it was her mission to find out what happened to her mother, and to find out if someone else was involved," Sheriff Allen shared, NBC News reports.