Family seeks $200 million for woman's murder

JONESBORO — Family members of a Jonesboro murder victim have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her killer.

Shawn Gregory Cone, 52, is serving a life sentence without parole for the Dec. 8, 2019, murder of Alissa G. Reynolds.

Her sister, Stacy Baker is the plaintiff in the lawsuit on behalf of surviving relatives, including her parents and two nieces.

Attorney Chad R. Oldham said the victim’s family is entitled to $100 million in compensatory damages, “each of whom have suffered and will continue to suffer mental anguish by reason of such wrongful death.”

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 6, also claims the family is entitled to $100 million in punitive damages, plus funeral expenses and recovery from Cone’s theft.

“On December 8, 2019, at the time of decedent’s death, she was gainfully employed and earning a livelihood for herself,” Oldham wrote in the complaint. “She was 50 years of age and was a healthy, able-bodied woman with a normal life expectancy of approximately 85 years.”

Cone was sentenced to life without parole in September 2021 for killing Reynolds. Her body was found decomposing in the home she shared with Cone. Court documents show Reynolds had announced she ended the relationship.

After the murder, police said Cone took a commercial flight to Key West, Fla.

In addition to capital murder, a jury found Cone guilty of abuse of a corpse, theft of property and fraudulent use of a debit or credit card.

The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed Cone’s conviction last month.

During his trial, Cone denied killing Reynolds, but acknowledged he had a $200,000 gambling debt and $2,400-a-week drug habit. He blamed her murder on the “organization” to whom he was indebted.

It took less than two hours for a jury to decide his fate.

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