FAYETTEVILLE -- Christopher Segerstrom, who murdered a 4-year-old girl more than 30 years ago, was denied parole Tuesday.
Segerstrom was 15 on July 26, 1986, when he took Barbara Thompson into a wooded area behind the Lewis Plaza Apartments several blocks west of the University of Arkansas. He sexually assaulted her before bashing her head with a 40-pound rock and suffocating her. He had promised to help her catch butterflies.
Segerstrom, 47, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
The U.S. and Arkansas supreme courts have since ruled children cannot be sentenced to life without parole, and Arkansas, to comply with the rulings, changed its law to allow life with the possibility of parole after 30 years for children convicted of capital offenses.
Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay resentenced Segerstrom on May 3, 2017. Because Segerstrom was given credit at his original sentencing for 11 months of jail time served, he became immediately eligible to seek parole.
Barbara's family and Washington County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett opposed Segerstrom's release from prison on parole.
Jena Muddiman, Barbara's mother, said she learned the news in a phone call with parole officials.
"I cried when I heard him say he was denied," Muddiman said. "Thank God and the Parole Board."
Durrett said he was relieved by the decision and grateful to the Arkansas Parole Board.
"We've now got at least two more years without worrying about him being free," Durrett said. "As long as he's eligible for parole, though, we'll keep fighting to keep him where he belongs."
Durrett said he doesn't believe Segerstrom can be rehabilitated and will remain a danger to society.
Washington County had two other cases of teen murderers sentenced to life without parole.
James Dean Vancleave, 55, of Springdale was convicted of capital murder for killing 23-year-old Debra King. He was 16 when he killed King on Jan. 29, 1978, at a convenience store on Elm Springs Road.
Vancleave stabbed King 16 times, slashed her hand 11 times and tried to slash her throat with a small hunting knife to get $30 from her purse. The cash register wasn't touched.
Vancleave was paroled in March.
Dennis Wayne Lewis was ordered released from prison because no valid sentencing options were available in his case.
Lewis, 60, of Wichita, Kan., was convicted of capital murder and assault with intent to rob.
Lewis was 17 years old when he killed Jared Jerome Cobb at Cobb's Western Store and Pawn Shop in Springdale during an armed robbery April 8, 1974. Lewis was discharged from the Arkansas Department of Correction on Oct. 25, 2016.
Metro on 07/04/2018