A woman Little Rock police found taking a shower while a murder victim lay dead on her bedroom floor has accepted a 12-year prison sentence for trying to help the killer -- her boyfriend -- get away with the murder and other crimes.
Lindsey Janae Krasovic, who turned 35 on Saturday, pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension and being a felon in possession of a firearm, in connection to the Christmastime 2020 slaying of 36-year-old Brandon David Simpson of Little Rock, sentencing papers filed Friday show.
Krasovic's boyfriend, 36-year-old Scott Andrew Severance, was convicted of second-degree murder for the slaying last August and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Krasovic, a felon from Colorado, also pleaded guilty to a second firearm charge and methamphetamine and marijuana trafficking charges for two subsequent arrests, in exchange for the 12-year term Pulaski County Circuit Judge Karen Whatley imposed. The conditions of Krasovic's sentence, negotiated by Deputy Prosecutor Justin Wilson and public defender Fernando Padilla, require that she serve an eight-year, suspended sentence following her release from prison.
Krasovic was first arrested Dec. 26, 2020, when Little Rock police, investigating reports that Simpson had been shot at the Mara Lynn Road home Krasovic shared with Severance, raided the house and discovered Simpson shot dead and Krasovic in the shower. The murder weapon was found stuck in a half-empty detergent box under the bathroom sink, and Severance was gone. He would not be arrested for another three days.
According to trial testimony, police and emergency medical personnel had been camped out on the couple's doorstep for a couple of hours, with their emergency lights flashing, before raiding the residence.
Searching for Simpson, police had beaten on doors and windows to announce their presence, but no one ever came to the door. Investigators eventually got enough evidence to show that Simpson could be in the home, so police could get a search warrant and force their way inside.
Krasovic told police that her husband, Jay Krasovic, had shot Simpson in self-defense. Police could find no proof that Jay Krasovic existed, and a search of the residence turned up a photo of Krasovic with Severance, as well as mail addressed to him, court files show. Confronted with that evidence, Krasovic said Severance was the one who shot Simpson, admitting that she had lied about his identity.
At his trial, Severance told jurors that Simpson, a friend, had been the aggressor, showing up at the couple's home uninvited, arguing with Severance, refusing to leave and then pulling a gun. Severance testified that he and Simpson fought over the weapon, which went off during the struggle, striking Simpson in the chest, inflicting a fluke wound that showed little sign of external bleeding, according to testimony.
Severance said that Simpson did not want an ambulance, preferring instead to rest on the floor. Severance said he was so shaken up that he left the house -- telling jurors that Simpson was alive when he left -- and did not return for three days, when he was arrested at the residence. Simpson was charged with first-degree murder, but after he testified he acted in self-defense, jurors found him guilty instead of the lesser count.
Released on her own recognizance, Krasovic's next encounter with Little Rock police came as a domestic abuse victim in February 2022, when she reported being abducted by an ex-boyfriend, 34-year-old Carl Lee Brown Jr. of Little Rock.
Court records show police were called to Brown's Topaz Court home by Krasovic's friend, Shanika Strain, 36, who said Brown had been beating Krasovic with a gun and holding her against her will. According to police reports, officers arrived at the residence to find Brown, a parole absconder, inside a running car with Krasovic and a man, 21-year-old Tekendrics Thomas of Little Rock, in the back seat. Police blocked the car and ordered Brown at gunpoint to surrender.
Instead, Brown drove the silver Mercury Grand Marquis through the lawn, with police pursuing him at high speed through several streets and into Saline County, where other police agencies joined the pursuit that ended when a state trooper rammed the fleeing car using the precision immobilization technique in the 14000 block of Heinke Road, shortly after Brown was seen throwing a gun from the car.
Krasovic, suffering notable swelling to one eye, among other injuries, told investigators that Brown had beaten her over the head with something but did not know what it was, the report states.
Brown was charged with kidnapping, felon in possession of a firearm, second-degree domestic battering, terroristic threatening, fleeing and tampering with evidence. He has since pleaded guilty to the domestic-battering count, among other crimes, in exchange for a 12-year prison sentence.
Krasovic was next arrested last May in Jacksonville, following a traffic stop. Police reported smelling marijuana and removed Krasovic from the car. Inside the vehicle, investigators found a loaded pistol next to the driver's seat, along with marijuana, an arrest report said.
Then in June, Sherwood police stopped the car Krasovic was driving with two passengers, after seeing the vehicle driving erratically, court records show.
A police dog alerted of possible contraband in the vehicle, with investigators finding a safe behind the center console that contained about three grams of meth. A 9mm pistol was found on the console, with three grams of marijuana discovered in the back seat, along with computers, scanners and printers, as well as forged identifications and checks. Records show investigators also seized "multiple pages of people's skimmed card information.
Krasovic told police that she barely knew the front seat passenger, Matthew Luhrs, 36, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and did not know the back passenger, 39-year-old Dequarious Brown of Camden, at all.
Luhrs has since pleaded guilty to first-degree forgery, criminal possession of a forgery device and seven counts of second-degree forgery, in exchange for a sentence of five years on probation. Brown is free on bail awaiting trial.