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The Baxter County Sheriff’s Office arrested 38-year-old Kristy Shay Leedham-Johnston of rural Mountain Home on a charge of murder in the first degree following an investigation on Saturday evening.
At approximately 6:58 p.m. Saturday evening, BCSO was asked to send a deputy to an address on Baxter CR 672 to speak to a man about removing an individual from a house at a different location. The caller told the deputy that a man had been “hanging around” his daughter, who was later identified as Leedham-Johnston, for the past couple of days. Leedham-Johnston’s father said his daughter had been “acting up”, and requested a welfare check at her residence on Old Arkana Road.
Two deputies were dispatched to the location. Upon arriving, deputies found a deceased male laying partially outside of the open threshold of the doorway. Deputies observed blood on and about the body.
Deputies then went to the back side of the residence and found Leedham-Johnston outside peeking into the residence through the back door. When deputies called to her, she is alleged to have immediately raised her hands and state, “He’s a really bad guy. I did what I had to do to get away”.
A search warrant for the home was obtained and executed after 11 p.m. A wound consistent with a bullet entry was found on the decedent’s body. The decedent was identified as 48-year-old Mark Dennis Mucha of Mountain Home. Deputies found a concealed handgun and knife outside of the home.
Mucha was arrested for burning down two properties that he owned in 2017. Prior to his release on bond following that incident, Judge Gordon Webb ordered that Mucha receive a psychological evaluation following remarks from Mucha’s lawyer about his mental health. Mucha was arrested for aggravated assault in 2003.
In that case, he beat an individual with a small wooden bat, cracking the victims ribs and creating a head laceration that required 13 staples to close. He would later plead guilty to the beating in 2004.
Following her arrest, Leedham-Johnston was advised of her rights by an investigator and asked to answer questions about the incident. She requested an attorney and did not answer questions. She was then taken to the Baxter County Detention Center and booked on a charge of: Murder in the First Degree, a Class Y Felony.
A probable cause affidavit was submitted to a judicial officer with a bond of $250,000. She will appear before the Circuit Court to answer at a later date.
The body of the decedent was removed from the home by the Baxter County Coroner’s Office.
