Woman gets 35 years for murdering her ex-girlfriend

A Little Rock woman who said she found her ex-girlfriend’s dead body wrapped in blankets in the parking lot of the apartment complex where they shared a residence has been sentenced to 35 years for killing her.

Sentencing papers filed on Wednesday show Chelsea Denise McKenzly, who turns 30 on Tuesday, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, reduced from capital murder, in exchange for the sentence imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Cathi Compton for the January 2023 slaying of 36-year-old Tiffany Williams.

Under the conditions of her plea agreement, negotiated by deputy prosecutor Claire Maddox and defense attorney Birc Morledge, charges of tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse were dropped.

Court filings show that McKenzly called police to the Breckenridge Apartments, 1001 Breckenridge Drive, about 9:15 p.m. on Jan. 11, 2023, reporting that her residence had been broken into and her friend was dead in the parking lot and wrapped in blankets.

Officers arrived to find McKenzly in the parking lot by her car, holding a cat. Next to the vehicle was Williams’ body. The remains were almost entirely covered by the green and camouflage-patterned blankets, with just a small part of one arm and hand showing through. Investigators would later learn that Williams had been stabbed 47 times, with additional cuts to her left earlobe and hands.

McKenzly told police she’d just returned from a court appearance in Monroe, La., about 10 minutes earlier and found a camouflaged bundle in the parking lot when she started to unload her clothes from the vehicle. McKenzly said she saw a hand sticking out. She said she realized

Williams was in the blankets because of a distinctive ring on the hand that was visible through the wrapping.

McKenzly told detectives she tried checking Williams’ pulse and tried to get her wrapped body into the car to take her to the hospital, describing how a passerby tried to help her without realizing what was in the blankets. She said she told the man the bundle was her friend but that she did not know what had happened to her.

McKenzly said she called 911, then went to their apartment, finding the residence unlocked, with the door slightly ajar, which made her think someone had burglarized their home. She said she went inside to get the cat and found the residence “messed up.”

McKenzly first told police she had not spoken to Williams in months, describing the older woman as her ex-girlfriend. As questioning continued, McKenzly said she shared the lease with Williams and lived there off and on. The women worked at Walmart, McKenzly said, stating she’d last seen Williams two or three days earlier at work, likely Jan. 9.

With detectives pressing her for details, McKenzly stated she’d gone back to Louisiana that same morning then returned to find the victim’s body. McKenzly said she didn’t know what had happened to Williams, describing her as being with multiple partners.

In another version of events offered by McKenzly, she and Williams had spent the day before together, including visiting the zoo and going out to dinner. She said they had been trying to repair their relationship, but later that night, after midnight, they had gotten into an argument at the apartment, with Williams accusing her of cheating.

McKenzly said the confrontation became violent but had settled down until Williams got a knife and slashed at her several times as they moved between the kitchen and dining room.

She showed police a cut on her left palm, describing how she took one of the two blades Williams had brandished and then stabbed Williams when she got the older woman on the ground up against a wall.

McKenzly said she wrapped Williams’ body in the blankets and got bleach and Mr. Clean cleanser to clean the apartment, leaving the knife, her clothing and towels in the apartment. McKenzly was arrested after that admission and has been jailed ever since.

In the doorway of the women’s home was a bloody drag mark, according to court records. A search of the residence turned up apparent blood on the floor of the entryway/dining area and a large blood-flecked garbage can in the living room. Blood spatter was found on the baseboards in the kitchen, with more on the refrigerator and near the pantry. Bleach and Mr. Clean were also in the kitchen, along with bloody clothing. Towels and a hat, all marked with blood, and a broken knife were found in a trash bag.

In McKenzly’s car, a red Nissan Sentra with Louisiana plates, investigators found a parking ticket from Monroe, marked with the date of the killing, along with a court order of protection for Williams against McKenzly. Also discovered was a receipt from a Monroe Walmart for a trash can.

A neighbor, unidentified in police reports, told police that the women had not lived at the apartments very long. They constantly fought and had been in a very long disturbance that began the day before and lasted into the morning when Williams’ body was found.

Jatyrian Lovelace, 26, who’d been at a friend’s apartment, told police that he was in the parking lot when he saw a woman dragging something covered in camouflage to a red Nissan with all four doors open. She asked him for help placing the bundle, which she said was clothes, into the car.

He said he was trying to figure out how to fit the object into the car when he realized he could see what looked like a human head sticking out. Lovelace said he told the woman to call police and left.