BAXTER COUNTY, Ark. — A Mountain Home woman has been arrested after deputies found a man dead with a gunshot wound.
According to a press release from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, deputies arrested 38-year-old Kristy Shay Leedham-Johnston on May 20.
BCSO deputies responded to a call at 6:58 p.m. from a man who was asking for someone to be removed from a house at a different location.
The man said he was Leedham-Johnston’s father and told deputies that a man had been hanging around his daughter. The man asked for a welfare check on Leedham-Johnston at a home on Old Arkana Road.
When deputies arrived at the residence, they discovered 48-year-old Mark Dennis Mucha of Mountain Home dead, lying in the front doorway of the house with blood on and around the body.
Leedham-Johnston was found at the back side of the residence. When deputies called out to her, she immediately raised her hands and said, “He’s a really bad guy. I did what I had to do to get away.”
The release states deputies searched the house later, when they discovered a gunshot wound on Mucha. BCSO also found a handgun and a knife that had been hidden.
Deputies read her rights and asked questions about the incident, but Leedham-Johnston refused to answer and requested an attorney.
Leedham-Johnston was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on a charge of murder in the first degree, but formal charges are pending. She is being held on a $250,000 bond.