FORT SMITH -- A Paris man was sentenced to 70 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections earlier this month in connection with the stabbing deaths of his grandfather and grandfather's girlfriend last year.
Johnathan Carroll Massey, 22, entered a negotiated guilty plea in Sebastian County Circuit Court on Sept. 2 on two counts of first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated robbery, arson and theft of property, all felonies, according to court records.
Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Shue said Massey could be eligible for parole in 49 years.
Massey stabbed his grandfather, Carroll Wayne Elmore, 67, with a knife after getting into an argument with Elmore at Elmore's house at 3704 E. Clarks Chapel Road in Huntington on Jan. 30, 2020, court documents state. He also stabbed Elmore's girlfriend, Sharon Diane Bernard, 56, after she started screaming. Massey later told law enforcement officers he stabbed both of them until they stopped moving.
Massey took the bodies outside, after which he set them and the house on fire, court records state.
The bodies were burned beyond recognition and were identified through DNA. The house was a total loss. Massey fled the area in Elmore's vehicle with property from the house, records show. Law enforcement found him in possession of the vehicle in Logan County with bloody clothing, Capt. Philip Pevehouse of the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office wrote in a January 2020 news release.
Massey originally pleaded innocent to five charges during his arraignment Feb. 5, 2020. He was charged Feb. 3, 2020.