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How a registered sex offender groomed his stepdaughter from a girl with college dreams into a co-defendant, and why no one stopped it
Dezarea Kennedy wanted to be a nurse.
Her grandmother still has pictures all over the house. A girl who went to concerts with her aunt, went kayaking the next day, talked about college over family dinners. Her aunt is a cardiac nurse. Dezarea thought that sounded like a good life.
She was 15 the last time her family saw that girl.
Today, Dezarea S. Manson, 19, of Yellville, stands charged with rape, a Class Y felony, sexual assault in the second degree, a Class B felony, and coercion. She is a co-defendant alongside Steven Michael Manson, 35, the registered sex offender and convicted child rapist she calls her stepfather. Court filings identify her as both his stepdaughter and his girlfriend. According to multiple sources, she allegedly has been in a sexual relationship with him since she was 15 years old and has given birth to two of his children.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office press release announcing the charges does not describe a girl who was rescued. It describes a participant. According to the probable cause affidavit sworn by Criminal Investigator Jarrod D. Poley, Dezarea directed a victim into a shower, shaved her, invited Manson into the room and participated in a sexual assault the victim tried to stop.
How a teenager who dreamed of nursing school became a co-defendant in a rape case is a story about grooming, about systems that failed at every turn, and about a family that saw it happening and could not get anyone to listen.
‘Not the person that we know’
A family member who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation said she has not seen or spoken to Dezarea since the girl was 15.
“The person Dezi turned into is not the person that we know,” she said, using the family’s nickname for the girl. “I don’t know what drugs he’s been giving her or what he’s been feeding her, but this is just… It’s not the girl that we raised.”
The family member described the last normal visit. Dezarea was 15. An aunt took her to a concert. They spent the weekend together, laughing and being silly. They went kayaking the next day.
“That was the last time that Dezi had ever contacted any of our family,” she said.
Before that weekend, the family had been talking with Dezarea about her future. She was interested in nursing, inspired by her aunt’s career in cardiac care.
“We were talking about colleges, you know, my daughter’s a cardiac nurse, and we were talking about, she said, ‘Well, maybe I’ll be a nurse,'” the family member said. “We were already talking about her going to colleges and what she can do with her life. And this is all right before she met this Manson family.”
How the Mansons found them
Amber Kennedy, Dezarea’s mother, met Steven L. Manson through a relative who introduced them over the purchase of a used microwave from their front yard. The Mansons were scrappers who bought and sold junk. Amber began doing work for them, including helping care for their elderly grandmother.
Steven L. Manson, 56, had served time at Menard Correctional Center and other Illinois facilities. His criminal history in Illinois spans decades and includes DUI convictions, assault, harassment, intimidation of an officer and drug offenses. A 2017 Petition for Order of Protection filed in Illinois, Case No. 2017OP000158, contains sworn allegations from his own niece that he sexually abused her as a child, forced sexual activity, threatened her with a gun and threatened her life. The petition states that even from behind bars, he continued to send sexually explicit letters to her ex-husband and her workplace in an effort to intimidate and control her.
His son, Steven Michael Manson, had been convicted in Illinois of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 16, Case No. 10CF00000983, and sentenced to seven years in the Department of Corrections. The Illinois Sex Offender Registry classifies him as a Predator. His registry entry documents tattoos including “WHITE PRIDE” with a swastika, SS lightning bolts, a skull with a rebel flag and the words “100% REDNECK.”
While incarcerated for the rape of that 13-year-old victim, Manson maintained contact with her. According to accounts published by community members in McHenry County, Illinois, who documented the Manson family’s behavior at the direction of Steven L. Manson’s mother, Joanne, Steven M. Manson coerced the victim into relinquishing her order of protection when she turned 18. Even after a warden refused visitation and a judge ordered a visitation block, Manson’s own mother, Karen T., who worked as a correctional officer, drove the victim across state lines to Missouri to arrange a proxy phone marriage while he was still in prison for raping her. The victim eventually divorced him.
This was the family Amber Kennedy brought her children into.
The isolation
What happened next followed a pattern the Mansons had used before.
In McHenry and Lake counties in Illinois, court records show the Mansons filed protective orders against multiple members of Amber’s family, including Dezarea’s grandmother. They accused family members of providing drugs to Dezarea. The family member who spoke to the Observer described watching Dezarea take the stand in an Illinois courtroom and lie that her grandmother had given her drugs.
“I was in court and Dezi sitting up on the stand lying that her grandmother was giving her drugs,” the family member said. “These are like teetotalers. Nobody’s giving her drugs.”
When family members tried to visit, police were called. When the grandmother attended a court hearing and simply said the word “Dezi,” Steven M. Manson screamed at her and told her to get away, claiming he felt threatened.
“Nobody would let us talk to them,” the family member said. “And then we drove down the street and they were calling the police on us. The police are telling us to stay away.”
Steven M. Manson also created and distributed over a thousand slanderous fliers across McHenry County targeting Amber’s relatives by name and photo. The fliers were found at schools, children’s parks, beaches, businesses and on the porches of the people depicted. He admitted under oath on June 29, 2023, that he took the photographs and distributed the material. The fliers accused Amber’s family of being sex offenders and drug dealers, effectively turning the community against the very people trying to reach Dezarea.
The family member said she consulted an attorney about trying to get Dezarea back to Illinois. But Dezarea was approaching her 18th birthday, and lawyers told the family the process would take years.
“And when she turns 18, there’s nothing we can do,” the family member said.
The community members who documented the Manson family’s behavior in Illinois described Steven M. Manson using Dezarea to drive him on a revoked license, screaming at her when displeased and rewarding her when she complied. They called it textbook grooming, documented in real time.
The move to Arkansas
Beginning in mid-2023, the Mansons told people they were moving to Arkansas. Steven L. Manson had inherited property at 761 Marion County Road 8054 in Yellville. Court records and community accounts from Illinois show the family used the claimed move to evade court appearances and service of process while continuing to operate out of their McHenry County property.
Along the way, they were stopped in Springfield, Missouri. On May 31, 2025, Springfield police responded to 911 calls about a pickup truck and trailer at 2820 N. Glenstone Ave. packed with approximately 130 animals in cages stacked on top of each other in 78-degree heat. Cages were full of feces, water bowls were empty or filthy and two chickens were dead. Greene County filed six counts of animal abuse and neglect in Case No. 2531-CR02060. Bond was set at $10,000. Steven M. Manson failed to appear.
By the time they settled on the Yellville property, Steven M. Manson was a registered Level II Sex Offender in Marion County. Dezarea was living on the property as his girlfriend. She was a teenager. He was a convicted child rapist with her name tattooed on his chest. They were openly a couple in public.
Five cases in five months
What followed in Marion County Circuit Court between October 2025 and March 2026 is documented in court filings spanning five case numbers.
On Oct. 13, 2025, the state filed charges in Case No. 45CR-25-103 for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. Manson made bond and was released.
On Nov. 24, 2025, the state filed Case No. 45CR-25-111 for first-degree terroristic threatening. He made bond and was released.
On Dec. 5, 2025, the state filed two cases in a single day. Case No. 45CR-25-118 charged Manson with rape of a child under the age of 14, a Class Y felony, the most serious classification under Arkansas law. The alleged offense occurred Nov. 20, 2025. Bond was set at $100,000. Case No. 45CR-25-117 charged him with kidnapping, possession of a firearm by certain persons and terroristic threatening, filed as a habitual offender. Bond was set at $250,000. The probable cause affidavit was sealed the same day, citing a minor victim and ongoing investigation.
On Dec. 8, 2025, Bryce’s Bail Bonding Inc. of Higdon, Arkansas, wrote a $350,000 bail bond. Steven M. Manson walked out of the Marion County jail wearing an ankle monitor.
In the December case, investigators allege Manson raped a minor female victim and then threatened her and an adult female with a shotgun. Investigators executed a search warrant at the Manson residence and seized the firearm. It was the only gun deputies took from the property. According to sources, other firearms remained.
The family member who spoke to the Observer said she called the prosecuting attorney’s office in Arkansas after learning of the December charges.
“I was letting him know, what is going on down there,” she said. “And he said, ‘Oh, he’s not going to get away with anything here. I’m right on top of stuff here. We’re not gonna let him go.’ And then all of a sudden he’s out on bail with the ankle monitor.”
She called again.
“And he’s like, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of rules that come with that ankle monitor, so we’re not worried about it,'” she said.
On Jan. 8, 2026, one month after Manson bonded out on the child rape and kidnapping charges, Dezarea walked into the Marion County Circuit Clerk’s office and filed a Petition for Adult Name Change, Case No. 45CV-26-4. She asked the court to change her legal name from Dezarae Shae-Lynn Kennedy to Dezarae Shae-Lynn Manson.
Her sworn reason: “i would like to change my name because my old family chooses to stalk and harass me and my new family over the internet and i just feel more confterible with myself if i got my new familys last name.”
The “stalking and harassment” she described was her family trying to reach her. The “new family” she wanted to join was headed by a man who had been charged with raping a child five weeks earlier.
Then came March 7, 2026.
The March assault
The Mountain Home Observer is not identifying the victim in the March 7, 2026, assault. The following account is drawn from the probable cause affidavit submitted by MCSO Criminal Investigator Jarrod D. Poley, Affidavit No. 26-00188, and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office press release issued March 16, 2026.
According to the affidavit, a female victim filed a complaint with MCSO on March 7, reporting she had been raped at a residence on Marion County Road 8054. In an interview conducted March 9, the victim told investigators she had been brought to the residence by her boyfriend. The boyfriend had met Steven M. Manson in prison and had been offered work at the property after his release.
The affidavit states the victim was directed to shower, where Dezarea shaved her. Dezarea then invited Manson into the shower, where he began touching the victim. The victim was taken to a bedroom by Manson and Dezarea, where both continued the assault. The victim told investigators she said no and told Manson to stop. He did not stop. The affidavit states she was raped vaginally and anally.
The victim was taken to Baxter Health in Mountain Home for treatment and a SANE exam. An initial report documented internal injuries including tearing. On March 10, she was forensically interviewed at Grandma’s House Children’s Advocacy Center in Mountain Home, where she again confirmed the allegations.
The sheriff’s press release adds that while the victim was attempting to leave the residence, Steven L. Manson, 56, offered her a controlled substance outside and brought her back inside. She overheard Steven L. Manson and another individual say they could “have their way with her.” The victim fled to an elderly neighbor’s home, and 911 was called from that location.
At the time of the March assault, Steven M. Manson was out on bond on a charge of raping a child under the age of 14. He was a registered Level II Sex Offender. He was wearing an ankle monitor.
He had bonded out of Marion County Circuit Court four times in five months.
Three arrests
On March 13, 2026, investigators executed a search warrant at the Manson residence. Evidence was seized and submitted to the Arkansas State Crime Lab.
Three arrests followed.
Steven M. Manson, 35, was charged with rape, a Class Y felony, incest, a Class C felony, sexual assault in the second degree, a Class B felony, coercion and habitual offender enhancement. Bond was set at $500,000. The incest charge alleges that on March 7, 2026, he had sexual intercourse with a person 16 or older whom he knew to be his stepchild. That person is Dezarea.
Dezarea S. Manson, 19, was charged with rape, a Class Y felony, sexual assault in the second degree, a Class B felony, and coercion. Bond was set at $25,000.
Steven L. Manson, 56, was charged with terroristic threatening, a Class D felony, conduct constituting conspiracy, a Class A felony, and coercion. Bond was set at $50,000.
As of this report, Steven M. Manson’s bond has been revoked and he remains in the Marion County jail. He appeared by video before District Judge Jodi G. Carney on March 16, 2026. A bond revocation hearing was set for March 31. Prosecutors are asking the court to hold him without bond across all pending cases.
Court filings note that as a prior violent habitual offender, if convicted on the most serious charges, the only available sentence under Arkansas law is life in prison without the possibility of parole.
‘She’ll never be back’
Amber Kennedy, Dezarea’s mother, is no longer living at the Yellville property. It is the Observer’s understanding that some of her felony charges were dropped in an effort to secure her cooperation with the prosecuting attorney.
The family member who spoke to the Observer said she blames Amber.
“She just basically gave them to them,” the family member said. “She didn’t do anything until her younger child was raped.”
She said the extended family has discussed whether they could ever trust Dezarea again.
“Now she’s carrying guns. She’s getting tattoos. She’s having kids. She’s talking about stabbing people,” the family member said. “We don’t even know if we can trust her anymore. Because now she’s grown into somebody that we don’t know.”
She paused.
“It’s not like if she could just come home, and we could all grab her and just hug her, because she’s not back,” she said. “She’ll never be back to who she was when she left.”
And yet the family member said she hopes her granddaughter goes to prison.
“I actually hope my granddaughter does spend a couple years in prison because maybe that’s the only thing that’s going to open her brain to what she did,” she said. “Some time away from them would do some good.”
She said she appreciates that someone is finally speaking up.
“I mean, for my granddaughter, but for this crazy family that’s causing hurt and chaos everywhere they go,” she said.
What the record shows
The question is not whether anyone saw this coming. The record shows that many people did.
In Illinois, neighbors documented the grooming in real time and reported it to police. Family members called DCFS. The grandmother consulted an attorney. Protective orders were filed and dismissed. Police responded to calls and told the family to stay away.
In Missouri, Manson was charged with animal abuse involving approximately 130 animals in deplorable conditions. He failed to appear and left the state.
In Arkansas, Manson was charged with raping a child, bonded out, was charged with kidnapping and terroristic threatening, bonded out again, violated the conditions of release, and remained free on an ankle monitor while the prosecuting attorney’s office assured the family there were “a lot of rules” that would prevent further harm.
Then a woman was raped in his home while the ankle monitor blinked on his leg.
The systems designed to protect children from predators, to keep sex offenders accountable and to prevent escalating violence all had their chance. The filings existed. The warnings existed. The pattern was visible across three states and more than a decade of criminal conduct.
Dezarea Kennedy wanted to be a nurse. She was 15 years old when Steven Michael Manson, a convicted child rapist classified as a Predator by the state of Illinois, became her stepfather.
No one stopped what happened next.
