Harrison man gets 56 years in girlfriend’s fatal shooting

A Boone County jury on Thursday found Jon Aaron Shatwell of Harrison guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting of his girlfriend, Savanna Dickinson.

Shatwell, 26, was sentenced to 56 years in prison.

Shatwell shot Dickinson, 24, in the head with a .45-caliber handgun, then moved the body to make it appear as if Dickinson had committed suicide, said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Wes Bradford.

“After he shot her, he moved her body and also placed the gun next to herright hand,” said Bradford. “Then he went to his mother’s house to tell her that Savanna had shot herself, had committed suicide.”

Bradford said it was Shatwell’s mother, Edie Balmer, who called police.

The shooting occurred on Nov. 13 at Ozark Mountain Inn, a Harrison apartment building where the couple lived.

Dickinson’s death initially was classified as suicide, but police investigated, and Shatwell was arrested April 16 on the first-degree murder charge.

Bradford said three things led police to believe Shatwell had pulled the trigger:his fingerprints were on the gun, the shooting occurred from at least a couple of inches away and Shatwell had threatened to shoot a former girlfriend.

Normally in suicide by gunfire, there’s a contact wound, said Bradford.

“There was no evidence that the gun was up against the skin when it was fired, which you’d normally expect to see in a suicide,” he said.

Dickinson’s body and other evidence were sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock, and it took several months for those examinations to be completed, said Bradford. In the mean-time, Shatwell remained in Harrison unaware that the case was still under investigation.

“He thought law enforcement had bought his story that it was a suicide,” Bradford said.

When Shatwell was questioned by police in April, he changed his account, saying he had fired the gun by accident after it jammed, Bradford said.

“Only when detectives confronted him did his story change,” Bradford said.

A former girlfriend of Shatwell’s testified that he had threatened to shoot her, saying people would assumeher death was suicide.

Bradford said Shatwell and Dickinson had an onagain off-again relationship for eight to 10 years, according to court testimony. They had a son, Skylar .

On Thursday, Shatwell also was found guilty of tampering with evidence and using a firearm in the commission of a crime.

Circuit Judge GordonWebb followed the jury’s recommendation when he sentenced Shatwell to 56 years: 40 years on the murder conviction, 10 years on the firearm count and six years for tampering with evidence.

Bradford said the jury deliberated for about three hours on Thursday before returning a verdict. He said Shatwell’s attorneys indicated the decision will be appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court. John Russo, a public defender who represented Shatwell in the trial, couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

Bradford said Shatwell had no prior felony convictions but he had been convicted of driving while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/03/2012

Upcoming Events