Killer of woman, fetus gets 30 years

Sunday, February 2, 2014

SEARCY - A judge has sentenced a White County man to 30 years in prison after the defendant pleaded guilty to killing a woman and her unborn child and to wounding another person in a shedlike structure filled with weapons and drugs, a prosecutor said Friday.

Benjamin Peirce, 29, of Searcy pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and to one count of battery Thursday in White County Circuit Court instead of the original capital-murder charges he had faced.

Crystal Timberlake, 34, of Ward died in the shooting in the Bald Knob structure. She was 16 to 18 weeks pregnant, Prosecuting Attorney Chris Raff said.

Circuit Judge Robert Edwards sentenced Peirce to 30 years on each second-degree murder count and to 20 years on the battery count, with the terms to be served concurrently. Had Peirce been convicted of capital murder, he could have faced death or life in prison without parole under Arkansas law.

When police found Timberlake’s body, she had 8grams of methamphetamine hidden inside her bra and was lying on top of an assault rifle, Raff said.

Robert Wayne Dixon, 48, of Bald Knob was wounded and lying on top of another gun, which was either a rifle or a shotgun, Raff said. Dixon survived.

Peirce had said he acted in self-defense.

Detectives found a substantial amount of laboratory items used to manufacture methamphetamine at the crime scene, authorities have said. Raff said the structure was full of weapons and drugs.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 14 on 02/02/2014