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Killing of Don Henry and Kevin Ives

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Don Henry
Born
Donald George Henry

(1970-09-30)September 30, 1970
DiedAugust 23, 1987(1987-08-23) (aged 16)
Alexander, Arkansas, US
Kevin Ives
Born
Larry Kevin Ives

(1970-04-28)April 28, 1970
DiedAugust 23, 1987(1987-08-23) (aged 17)
Alexander, Arkansas, US

Around 4:00am on August 23, 1987, the bodies of 16-year-old Don Henry and 17-year-old Kevin Ives were hit by a freight train in the town of Alexander, Arkansas, United States, as they were lying on the tracks. The locomotive engineer engaged the brakes while blowing the horn, but the train could not stop in time and rolled over the bodies. A second autopsy revealed that Don Henry had been stabbed in the back and Kevin Ives' skull may have been crushed prior to being run over.

The deaths were initially ruled an accident, the result of the boys in a deep sleep on the tracks while incapacitated due to high amounts of THC allegedly present in their blood. The parents of the boys insisted on a second autopsy, and after exhumation it was ruled that homicide was likely. Later, another pathologist ruled that Don Henry's shirt showed evidence of a stab wound.

Background

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About 4:00 a.m. on August 23, 1987, the crew on board a 75-car, 6,000-ton Union Pacific freight train, more than a mile long and traveling at a rate more than 50 miles per hour, en route to Little Rock, Arkansas, spotted two boys lying motionless across the tracks, about 300 feet ahead.[1] Members of the locomotive crew also stated that the bodies were partly covered by a green tarpaulin,[2] though police disputed the existence of any such tarp and none was ever recovered from the scene. Nearby were a .22 caliber rifle and a flashlight. The boys did not move, despite the sound and vibration of the approaching train, its emergency brakes, and its air horn. More than 1,000 feet of the decelerating train crossed the point where the bodies lay before it came to a stop. The train's crew reported the incident to railroad and law enforcement authorities. By 4:40 a.m., police arrived on the scene.[3] The boys had reportedly left home about midnight to go hunting. The gun and flashlight near the bodies suggested they were using a hunting technique known as spotlighting, which involves using a bright light to scan for animals whose eyes brightly reflect the light after dark.

Autopsies

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The state medical examiner, Fahmy Malak, ruled the deaths an accident as a result of marijuana intoxication, saying the boys had smoked the equivalent of 20 marijuana cigarettes and fell asleep on the tracks.[4] The parents did not accept this finding and conducted their own investigation. In March 1988, James Garriot of San Antonio offered a second opinion and was skeptical of the findings about marijuana. A second autopsy by Georgia medical examiner Joseph Burton found the equivalent of one or two marijuana cigarettes, not 20. A grand jury ruled the deaths a "probable homicide".[5] When it was found that Don Henry's shirt contained evidence of a stab wound to the back, and Kevin Ives' skull may have been crushed by his own rifle, the ruling was changed to "definite homicide".[6] Don Henry's father also noted that he did not believe his son would have risked his gun getting scratched by laying it on gravel.

Investigation

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Despite pressure from the victims' parents, Saline County Sheriff James H. Steed Jr. refused to investigate the case. In February 1988, Dan Harmon, the parents' attorney and Saline County Prosecutor, finally reached an agreement with Steed that he would begin an investigation if the parents stopped criticizing him. However, the subsequent investigation was apparently sabotaged and several witnesses who were to testify before a grand jury were found dead. Sheriff Steed is also said to have lied about where he sent the dead boys' clothes for examination. He sent them to the Arkansas State Crime Lab and not, as intended, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Harmon also soon lost the trust of the parents, as he is also said to have prevented the case from being solved.[3]

The FBI took over the case in 1994, but came to no conclusion and the investigation was dropped in 1995, allegedly due to political pressure.[7] The Arkansas State Police investigation also came to no results.[8]

The mother of Kevin Ives, Linda Ives, who worked to solve and investigate the case privately until the end of her life, died in Arkansas in June 2021.[9]

Dead witnesses

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At least five witnesses died or disappeared between 1988 and 1990:[3]

  • Keith McKaskle was an informant for Dan Harmon and had taken aerial photographs of the crime scene, he was murdered in 1988 two days after Sheriff Steed lost his re-election
  • Keith Cone was scheduled to testify before the grand jury in the case and died in a motorcycle accident in early January 1989
  • Greg Collins, who was also called to testify before the grand jury and was an acquaintance of Keith Cone, was killed by three shots from a shotgun on January 26, 1989
  • Daniel “Boonie” Bearden was another witness, who disappeared without a trace in March 1989
  • Jeffrey Edward, whose body was found in a landfill in April 1989, was also linked to the case

The deaths were classified as murder cases, but no arrests were made.

Suspects and theories

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The usual theory given about the boys' deaths involves drug trafficking. The theory is that the boys were murdered after witnessing a drug drop from an airplane.[10] This drug trafficking was linked to the operations of Barry Seal and the Mena Airport in nearby Polk County. The 1994 conspiracy-theory movie The Clinton Chronicles blamed the cover-up of the murders on Bill Clinton, who was governor of Arkansas at the time and was accused to have known about the drug trafficking in his state.[11] The case was profiled on the television program Unsolved Mysteries.[12][13] Investigative journalist Mara Leveritt published the book The Boys on the Tracks: Death, Denial, and a Mother's Crusade to Bring Her Son's Killers to Justice in 1999, which deals with the case and the alleged involvement of the authorities in the murders.[11]

In 1996, Linda Ives and film producer Patrick Matrisciana released the documentary Obstruction of Justice: The Mena Connection, in which they made allegations against the authorities. According to the film, the two boys had witnessed a drug deal and were murdered by two local police officers. County Prosecutor Dan Harmon is also said to have been involved and later helped the perpetrators with the support of the authorities.[14] Harmon, who had represented the parents of Ives and Henry, was arrested in 1997 on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, and drug possession with intent to distribute and sentenced to 11 years in prison.[3] The two accused police officers denied any involvement in the case and sued Matrisciana and his film company for defamation, whereupon a judge awarded them 600,000 US dollars. However, Matrisciana successfully appealed the verdict, which was overturned in 2001.[15][16]

See also

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Further reading

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  • Leveritt, Mara. The Boys on the Tracks: Death, Denial, and a Mother's Crusade to Bring Her Son's Killers to Justice. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0312198411.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Vigils held at Capitol, courthouse 25 years after Ives, Henry deaths - The Saline Courier". www.bentoncourier.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-27. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  2. ^ "Arkansas mom's motion in bid to unseal files says DEA hiding crimes". Arkansas Online. 18 August 2018. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d Berry, Cody Lynn. "Kevin Ives and Don Henry (Murder of)." Archived 2019-06-21 at the Wayback Machine Encyclopedia of Arkansas, February 26, 2018.
  4. ^ KATV (13 August 2018). "Judge orders agencies to review more information in 'Boys on the Tracks' FOIA lawsuit". KATV. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  5. ^ Day, Chris. “Train Deaths Are Officially Homicides.” Arkansas Gazette, March 6, 1988, p. 3B.
  6. ^ "The Mysterious Deaths of Don Henry & Kevin Ives". Archived from the original on 2019-03-04. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  7. ^ "FBI ARKANSAS BUREAU – ID Files". Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  8. ^ "ARKANSAS STATE POLICE – ID Files". Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  9. ^ "Mom of cold case victim dies; Linda Ives sought answers in the deaths of 2 teens for decades | Arkansas Democrat Gazette". www.arkansasonline.com. 2021-06-05. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  10. ^ "New Witness? Man Claims to Have Seen "Boys on the Tracks" Murders". KARK. 14 February 2018. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  11. ^ a b c "The Boys on the Tracks." Archived 2021-01-29 at the Wayback Machine Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
  12. ^ Cosgrove, John; Gomez, Dan; Scott, Michael M. (1988-10-12), Episode #1.2, Unsolved Mysteries, archived from the original on 2023-02-24, retrieved 2023-02-24
  13. ^ "Unsolved Mysteries - Episode #2 - TheTVDB.com". thetvdb.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-24. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  14. ^ Obstruction of Justice: The Mena Connection. 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via YouTube.
  15. ^ "Video producer wins appeal in libel case". The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  16. ^ "No. 00-1411" (PDF). United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
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