Wife pleads guilty in kidnapping case

TEXARKANA — An Oklahoma woman pleaded guilty Friday to her role in the 2011 kidnapping and death of a man whose body was dumped at a racetrack in Texarkana.

Chrystal Lynn Larcade, 38, appeared with Texarkana lawyer John Pickett in an Arkansas-side courtroom of Texarkana’s downtown federal building for a change-of-plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey. Larcade pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping connected to the Aug. 13, 2011, death of 45-year-old Shannon Deval Watkins of Broken Bow, Okla.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenny Elser, who is handling the prosecution with Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Quinn, said the government and defense have reached a tentative agreement of 30 years in federal prison for Larcade.

Formal sentencing will be scheduled once the court has received a presentence report, including information about Larcade’s background and a recommendation for punishment under federal guidelines.

Elser said the government will ask the court to dismiss the second count of Larcade’s indictment, kidnapping resulting in death, at sentencing. Kidnapping resulting in death is punishable by death or a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Federal officials earlier evaluated the case and took the death penalty off the table.

Chrystal Larcade and her husband, Leslie Bruce Larcade, 48, both of Broken Bow, were arrested by police Aug. 13, 2011, in Grannis, Ark., after leading officers on a high-speed chase that ended when they crashed their vehicle, according to federal court documents filed in the Texarkana division of the Western District of Arkansas.

Leslie Larcade’s case is pending. His lawyers, Craig Henry and Jason Horton of Texarkana, watched the proceedings Friday from seats in the audience. A docket notation entered Friday states Hickey has scheduled Leslie Larcade’s case for a jury trial Dec. 4 in Texarkana federal court.