Pod Insights Murder In America EP. 210 - ARKANSAS: She Forgave Her Mother's Killer... Then He Killed Her Too About this episode In today's episode, we examine the bizarre story of the Snowden family murders, which took place over a few decades in a small community in the state of Arkansas. In 1996, a double homicide occurred inside of a historic property in the small town, which rocked the community. However, the story didn't end there, and this violence reared its ugly head once again decades later when in 2020, news broke of an unthinkable event occurring, that would send shockwaves throughout the town.
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Transcript 12,114 words · 6 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Colin Brown? Warning: The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects.
0:12 Courtney Brown? Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.
0:18 Colin Brown? This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.
0:23 Courtney Brown? When someone commits a murder and they go off to prison to serve out their sentence, the victim's family members are often left to pick up the pieces. After putting all of their focus on fighting for justice, they're now left to grieve, which is a lifelong journey. But another part of that journey, for some people, is learning to forgive their loved one's killer. Most don't deserve that forgiveness. But there's this quote that says, "Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." At the end of the day, forgiveness isn't always for the person in the wrong. It's for you, so that you can go on and try to find peace.
1:07 Courtney Brown? And the story we have for you today is about just that. A woman who found it in her heart to forgive the person who took so much from her, even when he didn't deserve it. So this is the story of the Snowden family murders. I'm Courtney Brown.
1:25 Colin Brown? And I'm Colin Brown.
1:27 Courtney Brown? And you're listening to Murder in America.
2:29 Colin Brown? Every state in America has famous families who helped shape its history. For New York, it's the Astors, Vanderbilts, and Rockefellers. For Michigan, it's the Sheldons and the Alders. For Massachusetts, it's the Kennedys and the Redstones. But for the state of Arkansas, one of their most famous families are the Snowdons. So, let's go back in time to tell you how they got their start.
2:54 Courtney Brown? In eastern Arkansas, surrounded by massive cypress trees, is the beautiful Horseshoe Lake. It got its name because it's shaped like a horseshoe. And for over 200 years, it's been a place where people go to boat, swim, and fish. But the formation of this lake has a dark history. Back in the early 1800s, it didn't even exist. It was actually a part of the Mississippi River, but soon enough, that would change. On the night of December 15, 1811, the United States would experience the biggest earthquakes in our country's history. They are referred to as the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812.
3:39 Courtney Brown? At the time, European settlers and Native Americans were living all around the Mississippi River, when all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, a violent roar erupted within the earth.
3:55 Courtney Brown? The earthquake was so strong, people living in New York could feel the shocks. A schoolteacher named Eliza Bryan documented her experience by saying, “The night was made loud with the cries of fowls and animals, the cracking of trees, and the surging torrent of the Mississippi.” The earth shook so hard, the Mississippi River started flowing in the opposite direction, sending deadly waves throughout the land. Entire towns were destroyed, boats and houses flooded, and around 1,000 people lost their lives.
4:36 Courtney Brown? In the wake of the disaster, the land surrounding the Mississippi River was forever changed, but it also created new lakes in the area, including Horseshoe Lake. Now, like any natural disaster, it would take years for the area to recover. Many of the people who survived the earthquakes were left homeless and starving. But decade after decade, the people living there started to rebuild. By the late 1800s, the Mississippi Valley had settled, and the land around Horseshoe Lake was thriving. It was also really fertile land, so farmers took the opportunity to grow rice, soybeans, and eventually cotton.
5:21 Courtney Brown? But the year 1919 is when the Snowden family moved to the area. They ended up purchasing 1,000 acres along Horseshoe Lake for their cotton plantation.
5:33 Colin Brown? Now, the Snowden family had been building their wealth for generations before this, starting with Robert Bogartis Snowden. He served as a Colonel for the Confederacy in the Civil War. But once the war ended in 1865, he came back to his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, and started buying up a bunch of land. And we do want to add in here that it is a fact that the Snowden family, at one point in their lives, owned, traded, and sold slaves. It was really hard to track down a full, complete historical. ...record of who the Snowdons were, but there is an image online depicting a document that made official an 1848 sale by J.B. John Bayard Snowden of “my Negro boy Jack,
6:16 Colin Brown? about fourteen years of age,” say fourteen, “for the sum of $450 to a man named A.W. Van Leer.” Obviously, Robert Bogartis Snowden was a Colonel for the Confederacy in the Civil War, and we can presume that this family in its early days made money off of the backs of their slaves. At the time, Robert was married to Anna Brinkley, the daughter of a prominent Tennessee businessman. And as he grew older, he would follow in his father’s footsteps, becoming a successful land developer, and so would his son, Bob Snowden Jr. He would be the one to purchase the 1,000 acres off Horseshoe Lake.
6:57 Colin Brown? Now, Bob Snowden Jr. grew up in Memphis and went on to study agriculture in college. While at the university, he met a young woman from Knoxville named Grace Mountcastle. Immediately, the two fell in love, but they couldn’t get married just yet. Grace’s parents wanted her to wait until the First World War was over. So, in the meantime, Bob became a pilot and Grace volunteered to work as a nurse. In 1919, after the war was over, Grace and Bob finally married and looked for a place to settle down. With Bob’s background in agriculture, he wanted to own a large farm. So, one afternoon, he got into a plane and he started flying over the United States looking for a good piece of property.
7:39 Colin Brown? And that’s when he spotted the land along Horseshoe Lake in Crittenden County, Arkansas. It was about 100 years after the New Madrid Earthquakes, and like we mentioned, it was very fertile land. So, in 1919, Bob and Grace purchased the property and named it Horseshoe Plantation.
8:02 Courtney Brown? The Snowden family really only knew luxury, so when they moved there, it was an adjustment. The home that was there at the time was a lot smaller than the homes back in Tennessee. They also had to rely on mules to haul all of their stuff around. And all of the things that they needed, they had to get through the Mississippi River. Now Grace's granddaughter Martha would later say that her grandma was a very refined woman. So this country lifestyle wasn't something she was used to. The summers were humid and hot, and the winters were extremely cold. In addition, upon moving there, Grace thought life would be easy, with eggs and vegetables right at her fingertips.
8:45 Courtney Brown? But she quickly learned that that's not how it works. You have to put a lot of work into a farm to see the fruits of your labor. But soon enough, the Horseshoe Plantation started thriving, and Bob began growing high-grade cotton.
9:02 Colin Brown? In the early 1920s, life was going well for the Snowden's. In addition to his thriving cotton plantation, Bob had multiple businesses in Memphis, including the Wolf River Watershed Foundation and the Cotton Carnival. They were also growing their family. In 1921, Bob and Grace gave birth to their first daughter, Sarah Day Sally Snowden, who would go by the name Sally. And she is who this story is about. Growing up, Sally had a very good life. When she was three years old, her parents gave birth to her little sister Edith, and they were a very happy and privileged family. The Snowden's were bringing in so much money, Bob Snowden was able to really pursue his passions in life outside of farming, which was flying airplanes.
9:47 Colin Brown? He ended up founding Command Air, where he designed luxury personal airplanes in a factory in Little Rock. But as we know, in the 1920s, the Great Depression hit. Bob lost his company, Command Air, and the factory closed. And from there, he focused solely on his farm, the Horseshoe Plantation. He told the Arkansas Gazette, "As an airplane manufacturer, I turned out to be a damn good farmer."
10:14 Courtney Brown? Bob and Grace went on to have two more children. A third daughter named Dorothy in 1937, and a son they named Robert. By 1949, their home was feeling a bit crowded, so they decided to hire one of Memphis's most prominent architects, Everett R. Wood. That year, their modest house was transformed into a 6,000-square-foot, three-story mansion with a grand staircase, crystal chandeliers, and black-and-white marble floors. The primary bedroom was on the third floor of the house, and it had a panoramic view of Horseshoe Lake. It was luxury at its finest. But according to their family,
10:58 Courtney Brown? Bob and Grace were not stingy with their wealth. They donated a lot of their money. They helped build schools in their community. And Grace Snowden even served as board president of the Crippled Children's Hospital, as well as the Memphis Art Academy. Martha McKay described her grandmother as, "A lady in the formal sense of the word. Dignified, well-mannered, and graceful. She was always well-groomed with her hair done up, and attired in a dress and stockings. I never met anyone like her. She lived a privileged life, to be sure. But she was grateful of her blessings, and made it a point to raise us with a sense of appreciation for the beauty of life." End quote.
11:43 Colin Brown? Both Bob and Grace were pillars in their community. Everyone loved and respected them. They were known to always welcome people into their home, and they had big hearts. But more than anything, they absolutely loved to be surrounded by their family members. Every summer, their 10 grandchildren stayed with them at Horseshoe Plantation, and it was their favorite time of the year. By the 1950s, Bob and Grace had built a number of smaller homes on their property. They were originally built for their workers. But as the years went on, the houses were mostly for the Stodens' friends and family who came to visit them from all over the country.
12:22 Courtney Brown? Now like we mentioned in the early 1900s, most of the people living on Horseshoe Lake were farmers. But over time, most of those farms had been sold. By the 1970s, there were around 150 families living around the area. The 13-mile loop around Horseshoe Lake now had a small grocery store, a few restaurants on the water, schools, and a church named St. Mary's of the lake. Decade after decade, the Snowdens watched as their little farming community changed. But Bob Snowden didn't want to lose their farm, like he had seen with so many others in the area. So he established the Horseshoe Plantation Corporation.
13:05 Courtney Brown? The corporation essentially secured control over the 1,000-acre farmland, the Snowden mansion, and more than 30 lakefront cabins. He did this so that one day, when he passed on, his children could carry on his legacy. And that day would come in the year 1982. After Bob Snowden passed away, his firstborn daughter Sally would become the manager of the corporation. Now by that point, Sally was 61 years old, and she had lived a very eventful life. She had seen the world, she had been married twice, and she had three daughters, Grace, Kate, and Martha. Around the time of her father's passing, her daughters were all grown with families of their own.
13:50 Courtney Brown? And Sally had just divorced her husband, a professional actor from New York named David McKay. So after that, she decided to move back to Horseshoe Lake, the town where she was born and raised. Being the manager of her father's corporation, she was now in charge of 30 lakefront properties. So she needed to be there to oversee everything. However, instead of moving to her parents' huge mansion, she decided to just live on one of the cabins on the property. After all, she didn't need all of that space. Instead, the mansion was rented out by a woman named Polly Brown and her two sons. They ultimately ran a bed and breakfast out of it.
14:35 Colin Brown? In addition to maintaining the Snowden properties, Sally also owned an antique shop in town. It was her way of creatively expressing herself. And she was good at what she did, partly because she didn't put up with a lot. It was known that if Sally had something to say, she'd never held back. Now, by the early 1990s, Sally had hired her nephew to come work for her. His name was Joseph Lee Baker, and he was the son of Sally's sister, Edith. He was born on December 29, 1944, and he went by his middle name, Lee. Now, Lee showed a love for music when he was just 11 years old. That year, he picked up a guitar and started learning Elvis's songs. And from there, he fell in love with the blues.
15:19 Colin Brown? Like the rest of his cousins, Lee spent every summer at his grandparents' house on Horseshoe Lake. They were very happy memories from his childhood. As he got older, he would spend his summers there working the farm with his grandpa's employee, and at night, he would party with them. Oftentimes, they would go to this popular juke bar called Wheeler's Taylor and play blues and R&B music all night long. Now, Lee had gotten into a little trouble around this time. In 1968, he was arrested for selling weed. Instead of prison, he opted to spend six months in a federal narcotics rehab facility in Lexington, Kentucky. But by the time he was released, he was ready to get his life on track. The following summer, in the summer of 1969, Lee pushed himself further into his music
16:04 Colin Brown? career. That June, he played at the Memphis Country Blues Festival with a band called Moloch. Their music was influenced by artists like Jimi Hendrix. Lee had guitar solos that really caught people's attention, and playing at this festival was a big deal for him. The Memphis Country Blues Festival is still around today. It seemed as if he was finally living out his dream. Here's a video of them playing at the festival in 1969.
16:53 Colin Brown? But soon enough, the band would part ways. However, Lee's music career was not over. In fact, in 1975, Lee started working with a blues legend named Furry Louis. That year, they even played on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. From there, Lee joined a few other bands before ultimately starting his own called Lee Baker and the Agitators. He started that band in the year 1990 with his two sons Ben and Bo. Here's a song from one of their performances.
17:54 Colin Brown? Lee truly was one of the greatest blues musicians to come out of Memphis, and he was highly respected in the music industry. One of his former bandmates said, "Baker always went for the note that wasn't obvious, and he was never afraid to take a chance. His idea was to grab some strings and see what happens, and if it was slightly off, there was bound to be one note that fit. Whatever Lee did, it was always going to be interesting."
18:17 Courtney Brown? But as you may know, being a musician isn't always an easy career choice. It's hard to make good money in the industry. And by the late 1990s, Lee had a family to support. He had his wife Carol and their three boys, Joe, Ben, and Bo. But luckily for Lee, he came from a very wealthy family, the Snowdons. So in 1996, he decided to move his family to Horseshoe Lake so he could work in the family business. At the time, there were about 300 residents living around Horseshoe Lake. It was a very tight-knit community where people took care of their neighbors.
18:58 Courtney Brown? So Lee and his family ended up settling into one of the family cabins that was on the Snowden estate. Lee's job was to help out his Aunt Sally with day-to-day activities at the Snowden House. He was their head maintenance worker at the mansion and for the various rental properties that they owned. Lee was also in charge of collecting rent from tenants on the property. And upon moving there, the community grew to love Lee. He was a very friendly man with a big personality. His son Joe would later say that not only did his dad have an electric stage presence, but he also had the unique ability to connect with everyone around him.
19:39 Courtney Brown? He was charismatic, a devoted family man, and everyone that lived around Horseshoe Lake loved him. But soon enough, Lee would run into some trouble.
19:58 Colin Brown? That summer in August of 1996, the Baker family decided to go on vacation. However, while away, someone had snuck into the Baker's cabin. While inside, the person stole a number of valuables, including a large sum of money, Lee's collection of blues memorabilia, and a guitar that was gifted to him by the famous Furry Lewis, who Lee performed with on The Tonight Show back in 75. Then, after burglarizing the home, the intruder set the house on fire. First responders quickly arrived at the house, and they could immediately tell that this was no accident. It was arson. The fire had burned so hot that it actually burned the paint off one of the fire trucks that came to the scene.
20:42 Colin Brown? Now, when Lee and his family finally came back home, they were obviously devastated to see that their house had burned down. And that's when Lee noticed all of the missing items. Almost everything had been destroyed, but he could still see that a few things were missing. Someone had burglarized his home before starting the fire. And as it turned out, the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department had been dealing with a lot of recent burglaries in the Horseshoe Lake community. They were never able to figure out who the perpetrator was, but it clearly seemed like they were escalating.
21:14 Courtney Brown? After their house fire, the Baker family was forced to move to another cabin, and they tried to move on with their lives the best they could. Lee continued his work at the Snowden Estate, and his wife Carol went back to teaching at the school in town. But as if the house fire wasn't hard enough on their family, they would soon face another tragedy, which brings us to September 10th, 1996. That morning, about a month after the fire, a man named Bobby Couples was driving down Earl Beck Road. It was an isolated rural part of town. Bobby had made this drive about 100 times before, but this one was different. Because as he made his way down,
21:57 Courtney Brown? he suddenly saw a late-model, bright-red Toyota Camry crashed on the side of the road. The car had rolled over on its side. And given the freshly damaged tree that was nearby, it was obvious that the driver had crashed into it and flipped. Now, the car was still running, so Bobby immediately pulled over and went to check on the driver. But to his surprise, no one was in it. However, he did notice a head-shaped impression on the cracked windshield. It seemed as if the driver had crashed and fled the scene. Now, keep in mind, this is a time before cell phones, so Bobby had to get back into his vehicle and drive to Bond's Marine.
22:41 Courtney Brown? Inside was his friend and volunteer firefighter Levi Glasper. Bobby quickly took Levi back to the crash site, and Levi immediately knew whose car it was. It was Sally McKay's, or Miss Sally, as everyone knew her. After a quick look around, the men noticed that Sally is nowhere to be seen, and they both felt a horrible feeling deep inside. This is a close-knit community where everyone knew everyone. Strangely enough, Levi said that it was weird to even see Miss Sally's car on this side of town. Apparently, she never came to that area. Now Sally was seventy-five years old, and given the state of her vehicle,
23:25 Courtney Brown? they were worried about her well-being. So Bobby and Levi decided to drive to her house. But as they pull up on Brim Road, that sinking feeling within them grew stronger. When they saw Sally's cabin, they noticed that her nephew's pickup truck was under the carport. It was Lee Baker's white GMC Sierra. It had actually been backed up so close to her house that it was blocking the back door, which was strange. So Levi got out of the car and approached the home, but that's when he realized that Mrs. Sally's screen door had been cut open. At this point, nothing is making any sense. But then he smelled the smoke.
24:10 Courtney Brown? Levi would later say, "I ran around the house and put my hand on the window, and I could feel the heat." Sally McKay's house was on fire. Immediately, Bobby and Levi got back into the car and left to call the fire department. And when first responders finally arrived, they jumped into action. The first thing they did was move Lee Baker's car so it wasn't blocking the door. Then they made entry into the house. Volunteer firefighter Beth Baldwin said that outside of the cabin, you couldn't see any flames. But as soon as they opened that door, they were hit with a large wave of fire. It was concentrated in the living room and kitchen,
24:53 Courtney Brown? and there was smoke everywhere. After putting out the flames, the firefighters made their way through the home, and that's when they found the bodies of seventy-five-year-old Sally McKay and her nephew, fifty-two-year-old Lee Baker.
25:10 Colin Brown? Volunteer firefighter Levi Glasper later said, "I was hoping for the best that you're going to save someone. The bodies were burned so bad." End quote. Both Sally and Lee were removed from the home covered in white sheets. They were then taken to the Arkansas Medical Examiner in Little Rock. But inside the burned house, firefighters suspected that this was yet another arson. Now, this was a very small town, so word spread quickly. Over at the local grocery store, Lee's oldest son Joe was working a shift when he suddenly heard someone talking about a fire at Sally McKay's cabin. Immediately, he got into this car and rushed to the scene to check up on his great aunt. But when he arrived, he was met with a horrific sight.
25:53 Colin Brown? There were first responders everywhere with smoke pouring out of the home. Joe quickly ran towards it, but multiple officers stopped him. And that's when he was informed that not only had his great aunt died, but also his father, Lee Baker. Joe would later say that everything that happened after that was a complete blur. But he remembered thinking about his mother Carol. After their house had burned down weeks earlier, she had a hard time adjusting. And now, she was about to learn that her husband was dead.
26:23 Courtney Brown? Later that day, Joe Baker would make the drive back to his house. After learning that his father and great aunt had passed away, he was devastated, and he was definitely not expecting what would happen next. As Joe pulled up to his house, he saw that his family's home had also been burglarized. Just like Sally's front door, someone had cut open one of the screens and busted through their glass window. When Joe made his way inside, he saw that around $500 worth of property was missing. So soon enough, the police made their way to his house to investigate. Now, like we mentioned, they knew that someone had been going around their town committing a string of robberies.
27:07 Courtney Brown? And it looked like they had been extra busy on this morning with two robberies, an arson, and a potential double homicide. Now, they would have to wait until Lee and Sally's autopsies came back. But everyone knew deep down that none of this was accidental. They also believed that Sally McKay had likely been robbed before the suspect started the fire. But as for who was responsible, they had no idea. As word spread throughout the community, everyone was shocked.
27:38 Courtney Brown? The Snowden family was the most prominent family in town. They had been a part of this community for nearly 100 years. So as you can imagine, this was the talk of the town. And there were so many parts of this story that just didn't add up. Like, why was Ms. Sally McKay's car crashed on Earlbeck Road? Why was her nephew's truck backed up against the back door? And how strange was it that Lee Baker's house had mysteriously burned down weeks before?
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29:03 Colin Brown? Now, soon enough, investigators got the results of Lee and Sally's autopsies. And just as they suspected, they did not die in the fire. They had both been shot to death. When the residents of Horseshoe Lake heard this news, they now had to come to terms with the fact that they had an arsonist and murderer in their community. Sally's neighbor, 40-year-old Elizabeth O'Kane, said, "We don't really lock our doors over here. It's not that kind of place." 62-year-old Dennis Wan, a Horseshoe resident and close friend of Lee Baker, stated, "I can't get over the bad luck." Apparently, after Lee's house had burned down the month prior, he kept a positive attitude. Dennis said, "He said, 'Well, the Lord, he does things, but down the line, he'll open a door for you.
29:47 Colin Brown? I'm just waiting for that other door to open." But sadly, Lee's luck didn't get any better. According to the people that knew him, Lee always had such a great outlook on life. Even when he faced difficult times, he held his head up and expressed gratitude for the good things he had going for him. He was also very protective of his loved ones. Many people believed that on the day of the murders, Lee had probably walked into something happening to his aunt, and he stepped in to intervene. One family member stated, "He would have done that for anybody." But sadly, for law enforcement, they had no leads in the investigation. When they searched the partially burned home, they found no murder weapon and no spent shell casings. And as we know, fire destroys a lot of evidence.
30:31 Colin Brown? However, they did find a partial fingerprint on Lee's GMC Sierra, but there was no DNA. So, for a while, their investigation was at a standstill.
30:42 Courtney Brown? The once quiet, safe community around Horseshoe Lake was now crippled with fear. Everyone began locking their doors. Some residents even reported that in the days after the murders, no one was even driving around town. The roads were completely empty. An employee at the Horseshoe Lake grocery store said, "I've never saw so many with firearms. The peaceful life is what I moved out here for. I got tired of Memphis. We're out here to get away." But as we know, no town is safe from homicide. Even the smallest and safest communities have violent crimes.
31:23 Courtney Brown? And the Arkansas State Police were determined to find out who did this. With little evidence at Sally McKay's cabin, they decided to turn their focus towards the wrecked Toyota Camry. It had been towed to a nearby garage. And luckily, investigators were able to find several fingerprints and palm prints on the passenger side door handle, door frame, and windshield.
31:48 Courtney Brown? They also found strands of hair on the interior ceiling. All of this was rushed to a crime lab for analysis, but as we know, especially back in the 90s, it would take a while to get any results back. So in the meantime, investigators started going door to door. They were looking to see if anyone had seen anything suspicious on the day of the murders. Specifically, if they had seen anyone that was injured. If you remember, whoever was driving Sally McKay's car that morning had busted their head through her windshield. So surely, they would have some cuts and bruises. And soon enough, they would get their first big break.
32:35 Colin Brown? Local resident Joseph Jones told investigators that on the morning of the murders, he spotted Sally's bright red Camry speeding down the road in front of his house. Now, as for the occupants, he admitted he had never seen them before, but he could tell that there were two young black men in the car. With this new information, investigators were eventually led to a 20-year-old man named Edrick Smith. At the time, Edrick lived in a house with his mother Gladys, four younger siblings, and his daughter. And that day, they brought him to City Hall for questioning. Edrick was interrogated for hours. They took his fingerprints, palm prints, a hair sample, and they gave him a polygraph exam. Edrick would later say that it didn't matter how many times he professed his innocence, they didn't believe him.
33:19 Colin Brown? He said, "They were aggressive. They said, 'We think it's you. We think it's you.'" But Edrick had an alibi on the morning of the murders. He was actually on probation for a previous crime, and on the morning of the killings, he had met with his parole officer in nearby Forest City, Arkansas. Investigators called Edrick's parole officer, and he confirmed that Edrick had been checking in with him that morning at the time Lee and Sally were murdered. So it couldn't have been him. Investigators were back at square one.
33:50 Courtney Brown? Meanwhile, family members of Sally McKay and Lee Baker had been meeting up at this Snowden mansion. Not only did they have funerals to plan, but they needed each other now more than ever. Lee's sister-in-law, Suzie Blanchard, would later say, quote, "It's scary. People are scared to death. Everybody is devastated from here to Hughes." End quote. She also added that Lee's wife of 20 years, Carol, was really struggling with the loss of her husband. After their house fire in August, she didn't even have a picture of Lee for his funeral. But at these family meetings, they were also racking their brains on who could have done this.
34:33 Courtney Brown? And Lee's oldest son, Joe, had a pretty good idea. Ever since the murders, he couldn't shake the thought that it was his old friend, 16-year-old Travis Lewis. And little did they know, investigators had already been looking at Travis's older brother, Edric. He was the one that they had just let go due to his strong alibi.
34:56 Colin Brown? Now, as a little background on the Lewis family, they'd been living at one of the Snowden cabins for years. Gladys Lewis had five children, three daughters and two sons, Edric and Travis. And for the most part, the family was well-liked. Gladys was nice, her kids were polite. Gladys's father, A.D. Smith, lived next door, and he always offered to clean people's fish for them after they came in from a day on the lake. Now, that year, the Baker family moved into town, and soon enough, they became acquainted with the Lewis family. Like we mentioned, Lee was the head maintenance man for all of the Snowden cabins, and he was in charge of collecting rent every month.
35:37 Colin Brown? Eventually, Lee's three sons even started hanging out with Gladys's two sons, Edric and Travis. The boys would ride bikes on the dirt roads and play video games at Lee's cabin. Edric would later say that the Baker boys were his first white friends, and he enjoyed going to their house because they always had the best games. And the Baker boys loved hanging out with them as well. They had just moved to The area, so they didn't know a lot of people their age. When the boys first started hanging out, Lee was happy that his sons had some friends. And from what he could tell, Edric and Travis seemed like good kids. The owner of the horseshoe grocery and cafe, Beth Baldwin, admitted that Travis was "real polite. Everything is yes ma'am, no ma'am. Plus, he's smart. He's above average in school.
36:21 Colin Brown? He's so soft spoken, you have to listen to him real close, or you couldn't hear him." But soon enough, Lee Baker started noticing some strange things happening around the Snowden estate.
36:33 Courtney Brown? One day, after Edric and Travis had come over to hang out with the Baker boys, they noticed that a bunch of their video games were missing. Then, on another occasion, Lee's aunt, Sally McKay, noticed that a check of hers was missing. After a little investigating, they learned that Travis Lewis had found the check and tried to cash it in for himself. After that discovery, Lee Baker came to the conclusion that Travis was likely responsible for stealing his son's video games as well. So, he knocked on their door one day and asked their mother Gladys if he could take a look around their cabin.
37:13 Courtney Brown? And sure enough, when he looked in Travis's room, he found the stolen items. Now, these weren't the only instances where Travis had gotten himself into trouble. His juvenile record included an assault conviction, curfew violations, three counts of criminal mischief, and littering. But as you can imagine, when Lee found out that Travis was stealing from his house and stealing checks from his Aunt Sally, he wasn't happy. And from that moment on, he stopped letting his sons hang out with him. But then, shortly after that, the Bakers had that mysterious fire at their house.
37:54 Courtney Brown? Apparently, they suspected that Travis may have been responsible for the house fire. After catching him stealing, maybe he wanted to get back at the family, so he burned their house down. But now, weeks later, now that Sally McKay and Lee Baker are dead, Joe couldn't shake the feeling that Travis was their guy. From here, Joe went to the Arkansas State Police and told them all about their family's history with 16-year-old Travis Lewis. And when they heard this information, they decided to look into him. Now Travis was a sophomore at Hughes High School. And the murders occurred on a Tuesday, so they immediately went to the school to check
38:39 Courtney Brown? his attendance for that day. And that's when they found out that he had been suspended. So that's when they knew that it was now time to talk to Travis Lewis. Now because he was a minor, his mother Gladys was present during their interview. When they questioned him, he denied any involvement. He said that on the morning of the murders, he had actually watched all of the fire trucks be down the road. And he said he wondered what was going on. Gladys even backed her son's story and said that he had been home that entire day. So investigators were beginning to think that this was yet another dead end.
39:21 Courtney Brown? Not only did his mom give him an alibi, but Travis didn't look like a killer. He was shy, soft-spoken, and kind of scrawny. However, when they looked into his criminal record, they saw that he was not an innocent little kid. And to their surprise, one of his offenses involved their murder victim.
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40:27 Courtney Brown? Sally McKay, when he had tried to cash in her check. Now investigators actually gave Travis a polygraph exam and he passed it. So they gave him another one and he passed that one too. And just to make sure, they gave him a third polygraph. And again, he passed. And I know polygraphs aren't admissible in court, but without proper training, I've heard that it is incredibly hard to pass them if you're actually guilty, especially for a 16-year-old. So from there, with no other evidence, investigators were forced to move on yet again. It seemed as if Travis was truly not their guy.
41:16 Colin Brown? On September 14th, 1996, Sally Snowden McKay and Lee Baker were laid to rest. Ultimately, Sally would be cremated and Lee Baker would be buried at the Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. But they had their funerals together. The service was held at the local Episcopal church and hundreds of people from all over the country came to pay their respects. Reverend Douglas Bailey spoke to the crowd while standing next to a picture collage of Lee and Sally. He said, "Our hearts are troubled. We need to acknowledge that. Our hearts are troubled when people like Sally and Lee are taken away." And he was right. Their deaths were hard on everyone. Lee's former bandmate said, "My guitar hasn't said a damn thing since my friend died. It's not the end of a legacy. It's not the end of an era.
42:01 Colin Brown? It's just, very sadly, the end of Lee Baker." After the service, their friends and family members gathered at the historic Snowden Mansion to share stories about Sally and Lee. They even played Lee's blues music until the sunset over Horseshoe Lake. It was a beautiful day honoring such beautiful lives. Now, Lee's oldest son, Joe, had about 30 members from his Alpha fraternity come to support him. At the time, Joe was a student at Arkansas State University. But sadly, the deaths of his father and great aunt took a huge toll on him. And eventually, he would drop out to pursue a career in law enforcement. But for the time being, Joe was mainly focused on getting justice. And despite Travis Lewis passing three polygraph exams,
42:46 Colin Brown? the Arkansas State Police couldn't shake the thought that he might be responsible for the murders.
42:52 Courtney Brown? A few months after taking those initial polygraphs, investigators asked Travis to come in for a fourth polygraph exam. It was November 4th, 1996. Travis was still a minor, so his mother Gladys accompanied him once again. However, she would later say that she was forced to sit in the hallway while Travis was interrogated for hours. Nonetheless, during his interrogation, Travis stuck to his original story and denied any involvement. But when he took his fourth polygraph, he actually failed it this time around. When confronted with the results,
43:31 Courtney Brown? Travis started opening up about what happened on the morning of September 10th, 1996. He told investigators that on that morning, his mom had been sleeping, so she had no idea that he had rode his bike down the gravel road. As he was riding, his friend Andre pulled up next to him and asked what he was doing. According to the original report, Travis told Andre this.
44:00 Colin Brown? I'm fixing to go down to Mr. Lee's house and get some tapes. He said I'm fixing to go with you. He said he had his gun. He has a small gun that looks like a 25 auto. We went down towards Mr. Lee's and Andre said, "Let's go down to Miss Sally's house." I said, "No, her car was in the yard. She drove a red car." Andre said he was still going. "I'm fixing to get her car." I left and went towards Lee's house. I used a wooden mallet to get into Mr. Lee's house. I used it to break the window out. I went in after breaking out the window. It had a screen on it, and I laid it down.
44:34 Courtney Brown? So according to Travis, while Andre broke into Sally's house, he burglarized Lee's house. But the next thing he knew, Andre comes pulling up to Lee's house, driving Miss Sally's red Toyota Camry. And when Travis saw Andre, he looked terrified. He started begging Travis for help. He told him that he had just killed two people, and he needed help getting rid of the bodies. So Travis hopped into the car, and they made their way to Miss Sally's house. Once there, Travis admitted that he tried helping Andre move the bodies, but they were too heavy. So instead, they came up with a plan to burn her house down to get rid of any evidence.
45:19 Courtney Brown? Travis said that they went into the bedroom, gathered a handful of linens, and then set them on fire in the living room. Before they left, they made sure to back Lee's white GMC Sierra up against the back door, so no one could get inside the house. Then from there, they got back into Sally's red Toyota and sped away from the scene. However, they wouldn't make it very far. About a mile down the road, with their adrenaline pumping, Travis said that Andre lost control of the car.
45:55 Courtney Brown? Before they knew it, they hit a tree, and the Toyota flipped over on its side. Panicking, the boys knew that they had to get out of there before someone drove by and saw them in Miss Sally's car. So, they jumped out of the passenger side window and ran through the woods. Along the way, Travis said that he watched as Andre threw the gun into Horseshoe Lake.
46:25 Colin Brown? After Travis's confession, he was arrested and charged with robbery. Investigators also took his fingerprints, palm prints, DNA, and a sample of his hair. But according to him, he wasn't the one who killed Sally and Lee. That was his friend Andre. So immediately, investigators set out to find him. In the meantime, the news of Travis's arrest spread like wildfire throughout the surrounding communities. And interestingly, some people would even come forward with some shocking stories. According to one of Andre's cousins, Andre had actually confessed to them that he had murdered both Sally and Lee. He told his cousin that he did it because they had seventeen hundred dollars cash that he wanted.
47:06 Colin Brown? Soon after this, another witness came forward and said that just one day after the murders, he saw Andre with a knocked-out tooth. They also said that he had gone to the hospital after the crash, but checked himself in under a false name. So, this Andre guy was looking more and more like their suspect, and they wanted to find him and ask a few questions.
47:27 Courtney Brown? After tracking Andre down, detectives brought him to the police station and questioned him about his involvement in the murders. But of course, Andre denies everything. He said he was nowhere near Horseshoe Lake that day. In fact, he was with his girlfriend in another city. Now investigators would track down this girlfriend, and she confirmed his story, that they were together that whole day. But, when Andre was given a polygraph, he failed it. Now he did willingly give them his DNA, fingerprints, palm prints, and a hair sample, but with that, he was free to go. All investigators could do at this point was wait for the DNA results to come back.
48:11 Courtney Brown? And on November 5th, 1996, they got a match. As it turns out, the finger and palm print, as well as the hair sample found in Miss Sally's car, was a match to Travis Lewis. Andre had no physical evidence tying him to the crime, so he was officially dropped from their suspect list. From there, detectives turned their attention back to Travis. His fingerprints were all over the passenger side door and door frame. His palm print was found on the windshield, and his hair was found on the ceiling of the car. So with that, they officially charged him with two counts of capital murder and one count of burglary.
48:57 Colin Brown? When Lee Baker's oldest son Joe found out about the charges, he knew that that gut feeling he had about Travis had been right all along. But other people in their community were shocked. Mary Couples, who had known the Lewis family for several years, stated, "He never gave you any trouble. He didn't have an attitude. I still think there's somebody else, and he's probably too terrified to say anything. To me, to look at him, you wouldn't think of him as a murderer. He's so scrawny." Horseshoe Lake Mayor Carl Chambers agreed with Mary Couples and said, "The people I call the natives are completely surprised. The family had a pretty good reputation. You can see his house across the bean field from Miss Sally's." Now, if you remember, investigators initially looked into Travis's older brother, Edrick,
49:42 Colin Brown? and when he found out about the murder charges against Travis, he was angry. He thought that the Sheriff's Department had done a lousy job investigating the crime, and Travis was simply their fall guy. In addition, Edrick said that Travis had a really good heart. He didn't think his brother was capable of such a heinous crime. But there wasn't much that could be done, as of now.
50:06 Courtney Brown? With Travis in jail, investigators began their search for the murder weapon. Travis said that it had been tossed into Horseshoe Lake, so they used all of their resources to find it. They ended up sending six divers into the water, and they used an electronic bottom scanner that searches about a foot below the lake's floor. But sadly, they were unable to find it. B.J. Patterson, the Director of Reserve and Emergency Services, stated, "Evidently, the gun has become buried." End quote. And to this day, they have never found the murder weapon. Now, while in jail, Travis's attorney, Bill Lewelin, visited him often.
50:50 Courtney Brown? He would later say that Travis was a normal kid that did not look like a killer. Every time he visited, Travis was polite, and he always asked his attorney for some candy, but the future ahead of him did not look promising. If convicted, he was facing either the death penalty or life in prison. His older brother, Edrick, said, quote, "I was terrified for him because if you're a black guy, you're pretty much scared to go to trial because you're gonna end up getting the worst if it don't work for you," end quote. And Travis's attorney agreed. According to the popular television show People Magazine Investigates,
51:31 Courtney Brown? Bill said that even in the 1990s in the South, it was rare to have black people on a jury. And the fact that he was being accused of murdering two prominent wealthy white people, it wasn't a good look for him. But fortunately, many of the victims' family members did not want to see Travis put to death. So eventually, just days before his capital murder trial was set to start, the prosecution offered him a plea deal, and Travis decided to take it. Although he denied ever pulling the trigger, he figured this was his best option. So on April 7, 1998, Judge David Burnett, who happened to be the same judge who blocked appeals for the West Memphis Three,
52:16 Courtney Brown? sentenced Travis to 28 and a half years in prison for the murders of Sally Snowden McKay and Lee Baker. He also added an additional five years for the burglary, and his sentence was to be served concurrently. In the state of Arkansas, Travis would have to serve at least 70% of his term before he would be eligible for parole.
52:41 Colin Brown? There were a lot of mixed feelings about this for the Snowden family. Some of them wanted to see Travis put away for life. Others thought he had received an appropriate sentence. But regardless of their feelings, there wasn't anything they could do about it. And from there, most of their family just wanted to focus on moving forward. But interestingly, there were members of the Snowden family that thought Travis was innocent of the murders, including Sally's own daughter, Martha McKay. Now, as a little background on Martha, Sally had given birth to her on April 7, 1956. And for the first few years of her life, she lived on the Snowden estate. Now, over the years, her family would move around a bit,
53:21 Colin Brown? but every single summer, without fail, Martha and her two sisters would return to Horseshoe Lake.
53:31 Courtney Brown? Martha would later say, quote, "Mother would bring us back for the summer and leave us here. It was just wonderful. I felt like I was royalty with the big house and servants. Everything was fresh from the garden, fresh eggs and all. And we even had a peach orchard. We got to swim every day and it was just ideal. Both of my grandparents loved having a house full of kids and they showed it." end quote.
53:59 Colin Brown? Martha had a really beautiful childhood. After high school, she graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in the comparative history of ideas. On July 7th, 1978, she married a man named Wilfred Podrich, who was an artist. But unfortunately, in 1982, at the age of 42, Wilfred fell off a ladder while working on a mural and passed away. As a little side note, Wilfred was an established artist who dabbled in the occult in his work. He's created some absolutely bizarre, frightening, and intriguing art, so I would encourage you to Google some of his work because it's very interesting. But obviously, his death was hard on Martha. She always tried to have a really beautiful
54:43 Colin Brown? outlook on life. She was described as kind, compassionate, and warm, and she found a lot of comfort in her Buddhist faith and in her career, which was restoring old houses. Over the years, Martha had restored two historic homes in Seattle. Then she purchased another one in Virginia City, Nevada. Built in 1861, it was one of the oldest homes in the area, and Martha was looking forward to the upcoming project. But then, in 1996, her mother Sally was murdered. For a while, Martha returned to Horseshoe Lake to help her Aunt Edith with managing the Snowden estate. Eventually, they decided to close the bed and breakfast, and Martha used her talents to make some improvements to the Snowden mansion. Now,
55:24 Colin Brown? she would eventually return back to her home state of Nevada, but over the years, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was meant to be in Horseshoe Lake. So, in 2004, she purchased the Snowden estate and moved back home. At the time, the mansion that her grandparents had built was still breathtakingly beautiful, but it was a little outdated. So her goal was to renovate it, end quote, "bring the home up to the 21st century." end quote.
55:51 Courtney Brown? Now like we mentioned back in 1998, when Travis Lewis was convicted of murdering Martha's mother Sally, and her cousin Lee, Martha was one of the people who didn't believe Travis was the killer. She did think that he was there that day, and that he was an accomplice, but she didn't think he pulled the trigger. In the years after the murders, Martha even befriended Travis's mother Gladys, who also thought he was innocent. Now Martha's journey grieving her family members was not easy, but a part of that journey was forgiving Travis for his involvement. At the end of the day, he was just a kid who seemed to have been running with the wrong crowd. And clearly, he was paying the price for that.
56:35 Courtney Brown? Martha eventually started correspondence with Travis in prison. And the more she got to know him, the more confident she was that he was innocent. She was so convinced of this, she even asked the sheriff's department to reopen the case. And to everyone's surprise, they did. According to Joe Baker, after Travis's conviction, detectives went out and continued interviewing people. Because as we mentioned, that one eyewitness that saw Sally's car speeding away on the morning of the murders said that there were two black men in the car, not one. So Martha even went as far as to hire multiple private investigators to look into the case. But sadly,
57:20 Courtney Brown? nothing was ever found.
57:22 Colin Brown? After moving back to Horseshoe Lake, Martha moved into the Snowden mansion and started renovations. Her plan was to eventually rent out the home for weddings and other events. She ended up hiring a restoration expert named John Griffin, and an interior designer named Biggs Powell. But she had a lot of work to do. Over the years, Martha had re-tiled all of the bathrooms, added gold marble countertops from Italy, she ran hot water lines beneath the tiles so that the floors could be warm during the winter months. She renovated the entire kitchen, repainted the grand entrance, and she completely upgraded the air conditioning of the 6,000 square foot mansion.
58:01 Colin Brown? Martha invested about a hundred thousand dollars into the house, but she absolutely loved her line of work. By 2012, she had finally finished the renovations and started promoting the home for events. That year, Memphis Magazine interviewed Martha McKay and dubbed her "The Lady of the Lake." And eventually, she turned the mansion into an upscale bed and breakfast.
58:23 Courtney Brown? Throughout the years, Martha continued to keep in contact with Travis. She had even hired his mother Gladys to work at the mansion as one of their housekeepers. And they grew a really beautiful friendship. Each morning when Gladys reported to work, Martha greeted her with a hug. Over the years, Martha was a huge support system for her, as they both believed that Travis was innocent. Now by 2016, Travis had been in prison for 18 years. In that year, he was up for parole. Now many members of the Snowden family did not want to see Travis released from prison, but Martha did.
59:04 Courtney Brown? From the very beginning, she believed he was innocent of the murders of Sally and Lee. And even though he was involved in the robbery portion of the crime, Martha thought that after all these years, Travis had learned his lesson. She even showed up at his parole hearing and asked the board to release him. But ultimately, he was denied.
59:27 Colin Brown? Two years later, in 2018, Travis Lewis was up for parole again. And like the first time, both Martha and Travis's mother Gladys pleaded for his release. The parole board had a lot to consider. They looked at the fact that Travis was only 16 years old when the crime was committed. And by then, the courts were a lot more lenient when it came to minors committing crimes. As we know, minors' brains aren't fully developed. And although that doesn't excuse them from any consequences, it is something that they had started taking into consideration. They also saw that Travis had been very remorseful for what he had done. It seemed like he had truly been rehabilitated. Then on top of everything else, they had Martha McKay, the daughter of the murder victim, pleading for his release.
1:00:11 Colin Brown? So ultimately, this time around, Travis's parole was granted. At thirty-nine years old, Travis was released from prison after serving twenty-three years. For Martha and Gladys, this was a victory. It's what they'd been praying for, for years. But not everyone felt the same way. Lee Baker's son Joe was furious. He immediately sent out a mass email to other members of the Snowden family, letting them know about his release. In a later interview, Joe said, "I never wanted him paroled. I don't believe in paroling a guy that murdered two people." But for Martha, she was excited to see Travis thrive in this second chance he had at life. Now, after his release, Travis's family encouraged him to move somewhere else,
1:00:54 Colin Brown? far away from the judgmental eyes of their community of Horseshoe Lake. There were many people in the area that hated Travis for what he did. They didn't want him in their town. But for Travis, this was home. Even further, Martha had offered him a job as the Snowden Estates groundskeeper. Finding a job anywhere else post-prison would be hard. So ultimately, Travis accepted Martha's job offer. But his hiring was kept quiet. Martha knew that people wouldn't understand why she was giving Travis a second chance, so she didn't even tell her family that she had hired him. But just as she expected, Travis really proved himself. Both he and his mother Gladys worked on the property, and they took a lot of the load off Martha's plate.
1:01:37 Colin Brown? By early 2020, the Snowden house was a thriving business with high-end weddings and other elaborate events. And Martha attributed part of that success to her employees. They had a great team, and everyone was getting along. According to her, Travis showed up to work on time each day. He took care of everything he was asked to, and she never had any issues with him. That is, until March twenty-fifth, two thousand and twenty.
1:02:05 Courtney Brown? It was a beautiful Wednesday morning. Despite the recent COVID-19 pandemic and all of the chaos surrounding that, there wasn't much going on around Horseshoe Lake. But shortly before 8:00 a.m., their local police department got word that the security alarms were going off at the Snowden Mansion. So two officers made their way to the scene. When they arrived, they saw that the back door was ajar, and from what they could see, the house was dark. As they approached the home, they announced their presence and stepped inside. But there was no response, so they started going room to room. Along the way, they didn't see Martha McKay.
1:02:51 Courtney Brown? They also didn't see any signs of a struggle. And for a moment, they thought that maybe the alarm had been triggered by accident. However, then they heard some movement upstairs. Following the sound, the officers made their way up, step by step. By the time they got to the top of the staircase, they suddenly saw a strange pile of clothing and blankets that were just lying there on the floor. They also smelled lighter fluid. Before they could react, the officers were jolted by the sound of a door slamming, followed by a man screaming. Someone had just locked themselves into a nearby bathroom.
1:03:34 Courtney Brown? The officers tried gaining access, but they couldn't get inside. Pulling out their weapons, they ordered the man to come out with his hands up, but he wouldn't comply. The man continued screaming and banging around on the other side of the door. But then, the sound stopped. There was an eerie silence that filled the air. One of the deputies then looked out of the window to see a man jumping from the second story. It was none other than Travis Lewis. After jumping out of the bathroom's window, Travis took off running across the Snowden property. The two deputies quickly followed suit, but Travis had a pretty good head start.
1:04:15 Courtney Brown? One of the officers tried to deploy his taser, but he missed. And before they knew it, Travis was running full speed, straight towards Horseshoe Lake. Before the officers could reach him, Travis had jumped into the water. They quickly ran over to place him under arrest. But as they reached the water's edge, Travis Lewis never emerged. The deputies called a search and rescue team to help find him. But after a few minutes, they knew that he was dead. Now, as they waited for backup to arrive, the officers decided to take another look at that pile of clothing at the top of the stairs. The one that had been doused in lighter fluid.
1:05:00 Courtney Brown? And that's when they saw something that they hadn't noticed before. Beneath the pile was the body of Martha McKay. She had been stabbed and bludgeoned to death. Next to her body, the officers found a bloody knife and a bag stuffed with expensive jewelry and family heirlooms.
1:05:20 Colin Brown? Around this time, as more police showed up to the Snowden estate, Gladys Lewis heard through word of mouth that there was some commotion going on at her place of work. So she immediately rushed over to see what was going on. When she approached the home, she was horrified to see that it was covered in yellow crime scene tape. Gladys had no idea what had happened, but she feared something was wrong with Martha. One of the volunteer firemen spotted Gladys outside, and knowing that she was good friends with Martha, he made his way over to deliver the news. Sixty-three-year-old Martha McKay was dead.
1:05:54 Colin Brown? Immediately Gladys had this sickening feeling. As it turns out, in the past few months, she had grown increasingly worried about her son Travis. Apparently, in early 2020 Travis had started doing drugs, acting suspicious, and Gladys had grown concerned. She actually had distanced herself from her son, and she had tried to warn Martha about his concerning behavior. Gladys told Martha to be cautious, to reconsider their relationship, but it seemed as if Martha didn't exactly understand the severity of this warning. However, soon enough, she would see for herself exactly what Gladys was talking about. Shortly before all this went down, Martha had sold a $10,000 crystal chandelier, and
1:06:38 Colin Brown? the buyer had paid in cash. Now Martha had plans to go to the bank in a couple of days, but in the meantime, she stashed the money away in her house. The only person who was at the Snowden house when Martha sold the chandelier was Travis Lewis, and he saw exactly where she had put the money. Days later, when Martha went to grab the cash to take it to the bank, she saw that it was missing. Immediately, she knew exactly who had taken it. Again, Travis was the only person who even knew about the transaction.
1:07:11 Courtney Brown? Imagine the amount of disappointment she felt in that moment. This was someone she had supported since he was 16 years old. Despite the backlash she got from her family and her community, Martha stood behind Travis for decades. She paid for a private investigator to prove his innocence. She would visit him in jail, attend his parole hearings, supported his family. Martha McKay forgave Travis for his involvement in her mother and cousin's murder. Then, after all of that, she gave him a job after he got out of prison. Martha truly believed in Travis when no one else did.
1:07:53 Courtney Brown? She did everything in her power to give him a better life, even when he had destroyed hers.
1:08:01 Courtney Brown? And this is how he was repaying her, by stealing money from her own home. After this discovery, Martha immediately confronted Travis about the missing $10,000. And she had no choice but to fire him right then and there. But instead of taking accountability and considering everything this woman had done for him, Travis decided that he was going to get revenge.
1:08:29 Courtney Brown? On the morning of March 25th, 2020, he snuck into the Snowden Mansion, holding what is believed to be a hammer. And eventually, he would find Martha in the home. I can't imagine what was going through Martha's mind when she saw him. She definitely knew she was in danger. But I wonder if she thought about her mom and cousin? After decades of believing Travis's lies, she probably came to the realization in that very moment that this was the exact image that Sally and Lee saw before their deaths. Travis Lewis standing in their home with a weapon.
1:09:11 Courtney Brown? And soon, Martha would meet their same fate. But not before she sounded the alarm.
1:09:20 Courtney Brown? Somehow, Martha was able to run to the security system of the house and alert the police through her alarm. But right after that, Travis would bludgeon and stab her to death. From there, he ran through the house trying to find as many valuables as he could. But before leaving, he decided that he was going to burn the Snowden Mansion to the ground. So just like with the murders of Sally and Lee, Travis ran through the house grabbing some clothing and blankets that he could set on fire. After throwing them over Martha's body, he then doused it all in lighter fluid. But as we know, before he could start the fire, the police arrived on scene.
1:10:05 Courtney Brown? When he heard them in the house, he knew that he would be going to jail for the rest of his life. And instead of doing that, Travis decided to end his life right then and there, by drowning himself in Horseshoe Lake.
1:10:25 Colin Brown? Around 11 that morning, the search and rescue team were able to use sonar equipment in the lake to locate Travis's body. A later autopsy revealed that he had methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana in his system. Crittenden County Sheriff Mike Allen released a statement to the public informing everyone about what happened. And as the word spread through the community, people were completely shocked. However, others weren't shocked at all. The similarities between the 1996 murders of Sally and Lee and the 2020 murder of Martha McKay were uncanny. During both events, Travis had been caught stealing from the victims shortly before. Then he showed up at their house to commit a robbery. After murdering the victims, he grabbed a pile of clothing to set the house or building
1:11:10 Colin Brown? on fire. Now, in the 1996 murders, Travis claimed that the murder weapon had been thrown into Horseshoe Lake. He never got the chance to do that in Martha's murder, but he did throw himself into the lake where he met a dark, watery end.
1:11:27 Courtney Brown? Now, before all of this happened, there were some people out there that believed Travis was innocent of the 1996 murders. And I will say, there are some holes in that story that don't really add up. However, after the murder of Martha McKay, most of his supporters realized that they were likely mistaken. When Travis's mother heard the news about Martha and her son's passing, she couldn't believe it. She lost two people she loved that day. And it was hard to understand how her son could do something so heinous to the woman who had given him so much.
1:12:05 Colin Brown? When Joe Baker learned the news, he was devastated. More than anything, he wished that Martha would have listened to his warnings. He would later say, quote, "I had some feelings of, you know, I sure wish she had listened to what I told her. Maybe she would still be alive. The sad reality of it is that what happened, happened, and none of us can reverse the course of any of it." End quote.
1:12:26 Courtney Brown? The community around Horseshoe Lake would forever be affected by these tragedies. The Snowden family had been around for over a century. They were a huge part of this town's history. And now, because of one man, three members of their family lost their lives in the most horrific way. The Snowden house, which served as a bed and breakfast and venue space, had been around since 1949. And now it served as a dark reminder of what happened on that fateful morning. Eventually, the Snowden house was sold, demolished. And according to a Facebook post, the new owner built several multimillion dollar properties in its spot. There were a lot of people who were sad to hear this.
1:13:11 Courtney Brown? The Snowden family had made their mark on that land for over a century. But Martha's spirit lives on. She will forever be remembered as a beautiful person with an infectious smile. According to her loved ones, she loved fiercely. She saw the good in people and she welcomed everyone as if they were family. Sadly, it would be those very qualities that ultimately led to her death. And with Travis Lewis's drowning, we won't ever get answers as to why he murdered the woman that gave him so much. The woman that loved him, supported him, and ultimately forgave him for the unthinkable.
1:13:54 Colin Brown? For today's episode, we will be making a donation to the Crime Victims Assistance Association of Arkansas, or CVAA, a nonprofit organization that provides a voice for crime victims and survivors across the state of Arkansas.
1:14:15 Colin Brown? Hey, everybody, it's Colin. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Murder in America. This story was incredibly shocking when Courtney and I both read it, and we knew that we wanted to do a deep dive, try to tell this story with empathy, and cover a story that is almost at face value unbelievable. If you love the work that we do here on the show. Show and you want to support us, please consider joining us on Patreon. We have an amazing community there. On Patreon, you can get access to early ad free episodes of the show. So if you don't like the ads and you want to listen early, sign up for Patreon. And if you're already out of episodes of Murder in America, if you sign up for Patreon, you can get access to an entire library of bonus episodes of the show.
1:14:57 Colin Brown? Over 100 full length episodes of Murder in America. We're posting new ones every other week. And yeah, these are full length episodes of the show with both Courtney and I, the sound design, the music. It's exactly like what you'll hear on the main feed, but they're only going to live on Patreon. They will never be posted anywhere else. And yeah, that's a great way to help support the show and keep this thing rolling. Also, don't forget to listen to our other show, The Conspiracy Files, hosted by yours truly available on YouTube in video form and on all streaming platforms. Follow us on Instagram at Murder in America to see photos from every case that we cover.
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1:16:17 Colin Brown? And don't forget to leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We love hearing from you guys and that's a great place to show your support for the show without having to spend a dime. Anyways though, guys, thank you, no matter who you are, for tuning in this week. And to everybody who tunes in every week, Courtney and I are incredibly blessed and so thankful from the bottom of our hearts that we've built this incredible community. And yeah, we both hope you all have a great weekend. Thanks for tuning in and I'll catch you all on the next one.
Previous EP. 209 - MARYLAND: The Torture Murder of 22-Year-Old Stephanie Roper Next EP. 211 - UTAH: The Susan Powell Story (Pt. 1) Page updated November 1, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated