Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Segerstrom parole hearing set June 29
Killer convicted, sentenced to life for murdering girl when he was 15
FAYETTEVILLE — A parole hearing has been set for Christopher Segerstrom who murdered a 4-year-old girl more than 30 years ago.
The Arkansas Parole
Boa rd set Segerstrom’s hearing for
June 29. Segerstrom is being held at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern.
Segerstrom was 15 on July 26, 1986, when he took Barbara Thompson into a wooded area behind the Lewis Plaza Apartments several blocks west of the University of Arkansas. He sexually assaulted her before bashing her head with a 40-pound rock and suffocating her. He had promised to help her catch butterflies.
Segerstrom, 45, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without the
possibility of parole.
The U.S. and Arkansas Supreme courts have since ruled juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole, and Arkansas changed its law to allow life with the possibility of parole after 30 years in order to comply with the rulings.
Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay resentenced Segerstrom on May 3, 2017. Because Segerstrom was given credit at his original sentencing for 11 months jail time served, he became immediately eligible to seek parole.
Barbara’s family and Washington County Prosecutor Matt Durrett oppose Segerstrom’s release from prison on parole.
“He doesn’t need to get out, that’s what’s important. He doesn’t deserve to get out. He doesn’t deserve anything,” Jena Muddiman, Barbara’s mother, said last year. “He got what he deserved. He got life without parole, and that’s what he should do.”
Durrett has said repeatedly he opposes Segerstrom ever being paroled from prison and has pledged to continue his efforts to make sure Segerstrom stays behind bars.
“I think he is and always will be a danger to society,” Durrett said. “I have previously sent in my objection letter. I’ll send a letter each and every time I can as long as he comes up, doing everything I can.”
Durrett said he doesn’t believe Segerstrom can be rehabilitated.
“Anyone who would do something like that, I think, forfeits their right to walk among free people in a free society,” Durrett said previously. “I’ve been of the belief ever since the first time I heard the name Christopher Segerstrom that he did not deserve to ever get out. Ever.”
Washington County had two other cases of teen murderers sentenced to life without parole.
James Dean Vancleave, 55, of Springdale was convicted of capital murder for killing 23-year-old Debra King. He was 16 when he killed King on Jan. 29, 1978, at a convenience store on Elm Springs Road.
Vancleave stabbed King 16 times, slashed her hand 11 times and tried to slash her throat with a small hunting knife to get $ 30 from her purse. The cash register wasn’t touched.
Vancleave was paroled in March.
Dennis Wayne Lewis was ordered released from prison because no valid sentencing options were available in his case.
Lewis, 60, of Wichita, Kan., was convicted of capital murder and assault with intent to rob.
Lewis was 17 years and 5 months old when he killed Jared Jerome Cobb at Cobb’s Western Store and Pawn Shop in Springdale during an armed robbery April 8, 1974. Lewis was discharged from the Arkansas Department of Correction on Oct. 25, 2016.