The suspected killer of Sydney Sutherland admitted ramming the Arkansas nurse with his pickup truck as she was out jogging, then loading her into the vehicle and driving to a remote area, recently filed court documents say, as reported by Arkansas Online.
Quake Lewellyn, 28, has been charged with kidnapping, rape, and capital murder in Sutherland’s disappearance and death in August, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
At a preliminary hearing after Lewellyn’s arrest, an Arkansas State Police agent testified that the suspect saw Sutherland as he was driving on Country Road 41 on August 19 and turned around to pursue her.
The new affidavit indicates he struck her with his truck, put her in the back, and drove to the location where her body was later found. There, police said, he raped her and buried her body, Arkansas Online said.
Investigators found the 25-year-old Sutherland’s body on August 21 after two days of intense searching; Lewellyn was arrested later that day. The state medical examiner’s office said the 25-year-old Sutherland died of multiple blunt force injuries.
Sutherland’s phone was located nearly 2 1/2 miles from where her body was found, police said. Investigators seized Lewellyn’s phone and used its GPS data to determine he had been in the area of the burial, the affidavit says.
Lewellyn, a member of the well-known local farming family, is being held without bond in Jackson County; he is scheduled for arraignment on October 29.
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[Featured image: Sydney Sutherland/Jackson County Sheriff’s Office]
