Snapped: Women Who Murder - Jerrie Lynn Acklin

Episode Date: May 21, 2023

The disappearance of a nurse leads Arkansas investigators down a twisted path of familial betrayal.Season 28 Episode 09Originally aired: November 1, 2020Watch full episodes of Snapped for FRE...E on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the story of OxyContin, a popular painkiller that helps spur an epidemic of addiction and drug abuse, in which prompted a broad campaign to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable. Listen to American Scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. She was a hardworking single mom, fighting to get ahead and to help others. She would have done anything for anyone that asked, always had a smile. But when this mother of five disappears without a trace, her friends and family fear the worst.
Starting point is 00:00:42 We're all creatures of habit, so I mean, pretty soon you start wondering if maybe there's something going on. And I was like, oh no, what, why don't Earth could have happened. As police begin a desperate search, a disturbing narrative begins to emerge. There were family secrets involved. She was gonna get what she wanted or the other.
Starting point is 00:01:05 There were droplets of blood in and around the kitchen table. It went from a missing person to foul play. This is someone who went absolutely crazy. It's just a horror story. June 3, 2014, Batesville, Arkansas. It's 3 p.m. on a quiet Tuesday, when the second wave of nurses at Eagle Mountain assisted living facility are due to begin their shift. It's a variety of levels
Starting point is 00:01:53 that have assisted living, independent living, and there's also some nursing home care. But as caregivers clock in, concerns begin to mount. 65-year-old nurse Linda Stingley has not shown up for her shift, and no one seems to know why. Her coworker tried to reach her. She called her multiple times, even made a Facebook post, asking if anyone knew where Linda Jo was.
Starting point is 00:02:21 I thought, well, maybe she just overslapped. Or maybe she had to go take care of something for her parents or something, you know, and didn't have phone signal. Others, knowing Linda's dedication to her job, sensed something worse. Missed Stangley never missed words, and they were close to her. They had apparently worked on that same shift for quite some time.
Starting point is 00:02:42 Her coworkers were worried about her. With fears mounting, Linda's co-workers contact the Independence County Sheriff's Office for help. Police agree to swing by Linda's home and conduct a welfare check. They're just saying someone to be checked on, just looking for someone in need of help, actually in the residence or something
Starting point is 00:03:05 to that effect. As law enforcement officers make their way to Linda's home, news of her disappearance reaches her friends and family. I was done chores when my phone rang and they told me it lndled didn't show it for Earth. Your mind goes all over the place trying to think of where somebody could be and trying not to look at the negative side. I was like, oh no, why don't Earth could have happened. Mrs. Stingley did not lead a life that takes risk that would put her in a position to statistically become a victim more than you're a.
Starting point is 00:03:49 To not call and to not show up was not typical behavior for a woman like Miss Stingley. Kip Pankin, this is God to make a bad drink. Linda Jo's mother tells police, this is not something my daughter would have done. She would never walk off and not tell us where she's gone. Oklahoma native Linda Joe Canada was dedicated to faith and family above all else.
Starting point is 00:04:19 I go to church on Sunday, say grace before the meal, that kind of family values. My daughter was framed with everybody. She didn't have anything much, and she saw somebody it made. She tried to help them. She had a Bible with her at many occasions, her family talked about her, telling them to just turn to the Bible
Starting point is 00:04:45 and that anything they needed to know would be there. Married at 17, Linda and her husband, Billy Shouse, settled in her home state of Oklahoma and started a family. Linda married him and had Michelle in Chris. We'd have family get together. She was so fun, love that you know. After five years of marriage, Linda and Billy divorced, but Linda had another chance at love when she met Jerry Stingley.
Starting point is 00:05:18 With her two children in tow, Linda and the kids made a new home with Jerry. The happy couple embraced the idea of a growing family and quickly added three more kids to the brood. She was working at the time when she met this guy. And I thought it very instant. Everything would be okay. Linda married him and then Gerald was born in 1972. At Julian was born in 73. Then Cory was born in my 74.
Starting point is 00:06:01 But after 13 years, the couple's marriage ended in divorce, leaving Linda a single mother. She had five kids and was really trying just to make it all work. Faced with the daunting task of raising a large family on her own, Linda set out into the workforce to support her children. She decided to go to school for nursing and was working as a single mom so hard to really achieve this education
Starting point is 00:06:30 and have a better life for her family. She was going to school. She would study all night. She was working in whatever she could find. Linda rose to the challenge and soon secured work caring for the elderly. She loved getting to go and be around the elderly people there were nursing homes and everything. And she was working at assisted living place.
Starting point is 00:07:02 Well, she gave all the medicine and everything like that. and she was working at assisted living place. We were she gave all the meds and everything like that. She's pretty devoted to it. She did love her job. While Linda's oldest Michelle had already left the nest, her second daughter, Jerry Lynn, was often called upon to help run the household.
Starting point is 00:07:27 Linda worked a lot of second shift at her job and she would leave it three in the afternoon and would come home later in the evening or even close to 10 o'clock at night. So you would assume that a lot of things fell on to Jerry. As Linda's fourth child, Jerry Lynn forged her own path from a young age. She was just a normal child. She played basketball, was a very good basketball player, and everything. That was very pleasant to me. I'm going to do what I want today,
Starting point is 00:08:06 and you can't tell me what today. She was fun to be around. She just drove around town, but I like everybody else did, nothing else to do. She was a little bit of a tomboy, a little bit of hot headed. She taught back a lot. As Jerry grew older,
Starting point is 00:08:23 she grew more independent, and her relationship with her family became more strained. She was expected, I think, to kind of hold the fort down while my mom worked a lot. I do think that was an issue. Just from things I've seen, while I was there, you know, when I landed, would ask her to do dishes or do this a lot, and there was a little bit of haggle in which, you know, teenagers do that. Jerry Leanne really had some animosity and growing up.
Starting point is 00:08:53 And, you know, I mean, some kids are just trouble kids. But she seemed to really have that my wife or no wife and some animosity toward her mom. I'd have to shake right into it, because all kids continued to get worse, and a lot of the time Linda did not even know where she was. She wasn't a bad person or anything like that, but she did have a short fuse,
Starting point is 00:09:21 as, you know, like, I'd seen her get upset with people over very small things. At the age of 19, Jerry followed in her mother's footsteps by becoming a young parent. Jerry Leam found out she was pregnant. She did quit her job. Her car was my straight junk, my band. found out she was pregnant. She did quit her job. Her car was my straight junk, my man. I don't know what she would have done if Linda hadn't
Starting point is 00:09:53 of took her in. After giving birth, Jerry tried to care for her son, Dalton, but it soon became clear that she lacked some of the maternal instincts that Linda proudly displayed. When she had that baby, with the n, six weeks, you know she was an okay. She would leap the baby with Linda, even though Linda was working, she had tried to make arrangements. She had just more or less abandoned here,
Starting point is 00:10:30 left him with Linda. Linda would do anything for her children. She always said, you might miss Dite, because everybody might miss Dite. While Linda worked hard to raise her grandson, the behavior of her own teenage son, Corey, became cause for concern. The prosecutor's office and law enforcement were familiar with Corey Stingley. He had been in trouble.
Starting point is 00:10:56 Corey got on drugs before he had graduated. He went into the National Guard, and I think Linda thought that would straighten him out. Linda worked so hard, and then just there was always another problem down the road. That's what it felt like. If this kid was getting it together, that kid wasn't. Despite life's ups and downs, by 2014, Linda seemed content. Even her relationship with now 40-year-old Jerry Lynn appeared to be on the mend.
Starting point is 00:11:34 Linda said Jerry had made some bad decisions and that she hoped that she would do better. Linda had worked so hard in her life and was finally getting to a point where she wasn't going to have to work anymore. Things were really looking good. Linda was always very driven, lived her job, it was coming toward retirement. But when no one can reach Linda, on June 3rd 2014, Panic sets in for those that love her. And she could be a son. I could be kind and hysterical.
Starting point is 00:12:09 I kept saying she's okay. They'll find her. The next day, as officers make their way to Linda's home for a welfare check, Dispatch collects all the information they can from her worried co-workers. The last time her co-workers had seen Linda Joe, she was working a shift the day before.
Starting point is 00:12:29 And she got in her car and left that evening. They hadn't heard from her since. We're looking for the last person that probably saw her before she went missing. The search is on. Coming up, police searched Linda's home. She was not in the house, but her car was still there. Someone could have been walking the road and taken her.
Starting point is 00:12:50 As the hunt for Linda intensifies, a new search effort begins. It could not get it together about why both of these women were missing and was there another person involved. We may have someone on the loose that is willing to very quickly injure and kill someone. It kept going through my mind. I'm probably not really seeing my daughter alive again. On June 4th 2014, law enforcement in Independence County, Arkansas performs a welfare check on 65-year-old Linda Stingley,
Starting point is 00:13:32 after she failed to arrive for her shift at a local assisted living facility the day before. Family lived around here, lived close and actually met deputies there. At one point in time, and they actually let the deputies in the house and look around. They looked for her. She was missing. She was not in the house, but her car was still there. As police and family walked from room to room, everything appears normal.
Starting point is 00:13:59 No signs of a struggle at all, nothing out of place, nothing that would really raise any suspicions that that was a crime scene. But Linda's relatives do notice one thing that raises the alarms. Family members couldn't find her purse, so we have missistingly missing along with her purse. Someone could have been walking the road
Starting point is 00:14:22 and pulling door handles on cars and driveways and taking her purse. Someone could have been walking the road and you know pulling door handles on cars and driveways and taking her taking her purse that way. However in this case Mrs. Stingley's also missing so that kind of rules that out. Linda Jo's purse missing is obviously concerning to police but it doesn't really help them with a timeline. When she left her work that evening, did she get home and leave with her purse? Doesn't really give them a lot of answers. Police speculate whether there may be an innocent explanation for Linda's disappearance. Every day, a vast majority of those cases that are filed, those reports that were filed with adults,
Starting point is 00:15:03 typically are not founded. The people show up within a day or two because adults have their own lives that they don't necessarily share with everybody. One would have said that a friend picked her up and they went out together or one of her sons picked her up and they went out together. You look for the most innocent explanation first and usually it is the most innocent explanation first, and usually it is the most innocent explanation. Linda was very widely liked, very widely respected,
Starting point is 00:15:31 had children, grandchildren, and was basically your average, quiet tax pings. Super, super sweet lady. She was very, very kind. Always very kind to me was, I've never seen her be cross with anyone, ever. With Mrs. Linda Stingley, that was the thing what was initially kind of put everybody at ease, too,
Starting point is 00:15:53 that she was okay, that she was gonna show up, just because there was no one that would really be an enemy to her, there was no one that would be purposely out to get her. As officers prepare to leave Linda's home, they're met by a concerned neighbor. She had been keeping an eye on Linda Joe's house because there had been a couple of break-ins.
Starting point is 00:16:19 She'd been broken twice. The first time they took her TV and stuff like that, they never did catch anybody, I'll need the one at the moment. Of course, neighbors are going to be concerned about any break in in their neighborhood. So she's kind of surveilling the house just as any good neighbor would do.
Starting point is 00:16:42 She noticed a car parked behind Linda Joe's house. The car was at Maroon, Pontiac Grand Prix. It was spotted earlier by neighbors. They thought it was strange because it had been there the whole day before, while mistingly was at work. And her neighbor was worried enough to say, that's a strange car in her driveway.
Starting point is 00:17:04 I'm going to take down that license number. So the Sheriff's Department runs the license plate number that the neighbor has given to them, and it goes back to one name, Jerry Lynn Acklin. After talking with Linda's neighbor, investigators return to the station and call Linda's mother, Joe Canada, to ask about Jerry Lynn's car. I told me about the neighborhood singing the car there, and I knew it was the color of Jerry Lynn's car.
Starting point is 00:17:39 It was far behind the house, which she never done. According to Joe, Jerry Lynn has been experiencing some recent difficulties, including having trouble finding a place to live. And it appeared that within the few days or weeks before this happened, she was really just staying with whoever she could find to stay with. It seemed like it was almost a one day at a time,
Starting point is 00:18:04 one night at a time thing. I just kind of got the feeling that she may have gotten into drugs. From her appearance, it did not appear that she was taking care of herself. She stayed at her son, Naltons, and she set up fire in the closet there. And that's when he came up to our house, and he told me he said, I don't know what's wrong with mom, but something is. You get the picture of Jerry Acklin, who is somebody that's really out of options.
Starting point is 00:18:45 She had really burned her bridges with almost everybody that she knew. She did not have a good relationship with family members, apparently, and she didn't have a game plan. According to Joe, Linda did her best to help Jerry Lynn get on the right track. Linda told her, you didn't get a job. I cannot take you in anymore. And she had come back the week before all this happened. And Linda talked to her again.
Starting point is 00:19:18 And she said, I'm going to the plot now. And I'll be back and touch with him. She tells police that Linda Jo and Jerry Lynn had a tense relationship in the past, but everything seemed fine right now. Investigators obtained Jerry Lynn's number and attempt to track her down. She didn't answer.
Starting point is 00:19:42 Nobody knew where she was or anything. We can't get in touch with Jerry. Family had tried contacting her as well. With all of these little things, law enforcement and the family decided that this was not an innocent situation they were missing and it needed some attention. With less than 24 hours having passed, since Linda was reported missing, authorities now fear her daughter, Jerry Acklin, may also be in danger.
Starting point is 00:20:13 It initially spun everybody up to where it became a full response. Time is kind of against you at that point. That was their fear that both were missing and there was something that they couldn't piece together. They could not get it together about why both of these women were missing and was there another person involved? Unsure of the missing women's fate, police quickly leap into action.
Starting point is 00:20:38 There was a bell low, be on the lookout for. This particular car, the red grand prix, Miss Acklin, and Miss Stingley. As they await tips from the Bolo, investigators continue interviewing Linda and Jerry's loved ones, wondering who might have wanted to harm the mother and daughter. The first thing we thought of was Cory, person, and he had been released from prison
Starting point is 00:21:08 right after Mother's Day before this happened. The prosecutor's office and law enforcement were familiar with Cory stingly. He had been in trouble down through the years. Law enforcement was wondering where Cory was. If there was a disappearance could he be responsible for that? Coming up, a new discovery casts a dark shadow on the investigation.
Starting point is 00:21:37 Someone was searching through the trash for these lottery tickets and found something. That's kind of when all of our division, our criminal investigation, the vision kind of got involved very quickly. And a trail of spending puts investigators on the chase. They were starting to develop information that her bank account was being accessed by someone. Her stuff was used here, check was cashed here,
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Starting point is 00:23:08 It's been 24 hours since 65-year-old Linda Stingley was reported missing, and investigators in Independence County, Arkansas are desperate to find her. She didn't show up to work, which was very out of character for her and her work contacted some family. Tried to make contact with her, family went to the house to work, which was very out of character for her. Her work contacted some family, tried to make contact with her, family went to the house, her vehicle was there, but she wasn't home.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Now, they fear another member of the family, Linda's 40-year-old daughter, Jerry Lynn Aklin, may also be missing. We don't know how long Jerry's been gone. They're just trying to find her. While Ebola for Linda and her daughter, Jerry, spreads across the state. Investigators are also interested in locating Linda's 38 year old son, Corey Stingley. Some family was helping us try to develop leads
Starting point is 00:23:59 of what could have happened. And she did have a son that had very tedious relationships with him, Cory. So that was the initial suspect at the very beginning. Cory struggled to stay on the street in narrow, having been in and out of prison for the past 20 years for various fraud and theft charges. He was in prison for a while.
Starting point is 00:24:22 Then he was out. Then he probably six while. Then he was out. Then he probably six or eight months, he looks back in. And every time Linda would do everything she could when he got out. They immediately thought, because of his criminal history, that he must have some involvement, or that he was at least the first person that needed a look.
Starting point is 00:24:48 They bring him in for questioning. He's very open, very forthcoming about his relationship with his mother. They had a very tense past with each other, mostly because of his criminal history. Police asked Cory where he was the day his mother vanished. He had the best alibi you could have. He was actually incarcerated in another jurisdiction
Starting point is 00:25:10 in their jail at the time. So he was ruled out almost immediately. As police contemplate their next move, they receive a call from Linda's mother, Joe Canada. Jerry Lynn called. She told me she was out of state. She said, I know mom's missing. I always tell you in a while.
Starting point is 00:25:36 Joe tells police that unfortunately, Linda Joe is not with her daughter. And then Jerry Lynn says she has not heard from her mother either. While Jerry Lynn's phone call does bring some relief regarding her own safety, plenty of questions still remain. When Jerry calls Joe, that automatically eliminates half of the mystery. We know that Jerry is alive. We know that there was not a double abduction in this scenario at all. But where is Linda?
Starting point is 00:26:07 She's still missing. They were holding out hope that she was with her daughter, and now it's getting even more grim. On Wednesday, June 4, two days since Linda was last seen by her co-workers, police received a major breakthrough in the case. Law enforcement 112 miles away in Bryant, Arkansas report that a resident has stumbled onto
Starting point is 00:26:32 something unsettling. Apparently there are people who look for unclaimed lottery tickets, and this person was searching through the trash for these lottery tickets, and found missing Leeingley's identification or nursing card or driver's license. And then not only did they find it, they were actually nice enough to contact
Starting point is 00:26:53 law enforcement right away and let them know like hey, this doesn't make sense why is this here in the trash can. Any woman is still going to have their personal belongings with them. They're not going to just throw it away in a dumpster. So for an investigator, this is a really concerning turn. That set up even more red flags through the authorities.
Starting point is 00:27:12 I just honed Ian Rathair Penn said, we know she's missing, but we don't know if she's alive. Hoping to uncover more clues, detectives head to Linda's bank and request access to her financial records. Police want to know, have those credit cards been swiped anywhere and by who? They were able to determine through her banking information
Starting point is 00:27:37 that either a debit card or a credit card had been used at a convenience store slash gas station. The debit card had been used about 30 miles from Linda's house. Two checks had been written on a Miss Stingley's account and those were cashed. So they were starting to develop information during this period of time that her bank account was being accessed by some boy. Examining the locations of the transactions, investigators uncover a trail of fraud that starts near Linda's home and moves over a hundred miles south through Arkansas. They kind of had a trail all the way from Batesfield down
Starting point is 00:28:21 to Bryant, Arkansas, so we stopped off at all of those places to see if we could get any kind of video and what kind of evidence we could get there on the way down there. They went to the owner or the manager of the store of the gas station. Typically, they have surveillance both inside the store and in the parking lots.
Starting point is 00:28:37 And they combed through that surveillance footage. As police scroll through the footage, they hit paddard. We can see that was Jerry's vehicle. As police scrub the video, something else catches their eye. On the surveillance video, they see a medium-build, dark-haired woman. They're able to get a close look at this person's face. Turns out it is Jerry Lynn Atlin. That was a victory moment.
Starting point is 00:29:07 We're on to something here. Authorities now have proof that Jerry lied to her grandmother about where she was when Linda went missing. We found video of Miss Atlin and her targeting gas at Bonob, and then going into a bank, and then also going through a drive through at another bank cash in some checks from Mrs. Stingley.
Starting point is 00:29:28 So that was a good indication that they were on the right track. I know. In my own mind, they found Jerry Lim. They wouldn't find out what happened to Linda. Police focus on locating Jerry Lim, starting by taking a deeper look into her background. They ran her information to the Arkansas Crime Information Center and found that she had only once. At some point, prior to this time, she was working as a home health nurse or home health aid,
Starting point is 00:30:01 and the allegations were that she had forged a check or a check on one of her clients' accounts. Well, now investigators are really starting to put the pieces together and they're very concerned about where Jerry Lynn is. On the afternoon of June 4th, a patrol officer zeroes in on the suspect. A trick for a lot of patrolmen that have been doing it for a while, you know, it's work smarter, not harder. If you're looking for someone, go to your local Walmart and go to your local hotels.
Starting point is 00:30:36 Drive through the parking lots and look for the vehicles. Officers don't have to look for long. A police officer with the Bryant Police Department was driving through the Walmart parking lot, found the car at that match, the license plate, and the description. Coming up, detectives come face-to-face with their biggest lead in the case.
Starting point is 00:31:01 The patrolman went up and said, hey, you got a couple of horns for your wrist. And details of Linda's disappearance send the investigation in an unexpected direction. She came with another name of a suspect, the guy named Terry Stanley. At some point, a fight broke out, and he began beating Jerry's mother. It's been nearly 36 hours since 65-year-old Linda Stingley was reported missing.
Starting point is 00:31:37 After uncovering evidence that her daughter, Jerry Lynn Acklin, has been using her credit card, police have just located Jerry's vehicle at a local Walmart. The patrolman noticed that her vehicle was in the parking lot that the Lawson's plate matched, and he just waited, you know, at the end of the parking lot. Moments later, Jerry Lynn emerges from the store. Went up and said, hey, you got a couple of horns for your ass.
Starting point is 00:32:02 How it tells her that she was also related to a below for her mother's disappearance. Once Jerry Lin is transported to the Bryant Police Department, investigators waste no time questioning her about her mother's disappearance. The first explanation was a non-explanation. I don't know anything about it. It was denial. I mean, it was basically, I don't know where my mother is. I haven't seen her.
Starting point is 00:32:29 Hoping to elicit a truthful admission, detectives confront Jerry with the evidence they have against her. They started to reveal a little bit of information to her that they knew what was going on. Finally, Jerry Lynn fesses up, telling police everything. At that point, she said, I killed my mother. But someone else really did the killing.
Starting point is 00:32:58 She came with another name of a suspect that killed her mother together. It was actually a guy named Terry Stanley. Jerry Lynn tells police that she recently met Terry on a dating website and was taking him to meet Linda the night of June 2nd. They went to Miss Stingley's house and at some point when Jerry Acklin and Terry
Starting point is 00:33:22 and Miss Stingley were at the house, Terry initiated some kind of argument with Jerry's mother and this fact broke out and he began beating Jerry's mother. And then as Miss Stangley was crawling towards her daughter, Miss Stangley was crying, help me, and then Mr. Stangley finished her off. and Mr. Stanley finished her off. It's a horrific story that presents investigators with a frightening possibility.
Starting point is 00:33:54 We have someone on the loose that is willing to very quickly injure and kill someone for a checkbook or a credit card or whatever. Investigators move quickly to bring Terry Stanley into custody. He was located fairly quickly, brought in for questioning, and asked about Jerry Acklin. Do you know her? He told us I'd just met this woman on dating site, everything. We went on like one day to two or two dates, something like that. We'd been texting back and forth and all this stuff, but other than that, I haven't seen her
Starting point is 00:34:30 while. When police informed Terry that he has been implicated in the murder of Jerry Lin's mother, he denies involvement. He said, I'll tell you anything you want to know. You can search my phone, you can talk to my employer. Here's where I've been. I can account for every minute. Detectives take Terry up on his offer and begin to look into his whereabouts
Starting point is 00:34:52 the night Linda was killed. It doesn't take long for them to determine that Jerry Lynn still isn't telling the truth. Essentially, they were able to determine through phone records, other means that he was not with her when Jerry Acklin tells us mistingly was killed. With Terry Stanley cleared, police turned back to Jerry
Starting point is 00:35:19 and pressure her to come clean. At that point, she's ready to take responsibility for everything. Jari Lynn tells police that it all started on June 2nd when she and her mother got into a heated argument. She had gone to her mother's house just looking for a place to stay, and her mother wouldn't let her stay there, and they got into it. According to Jerry Lynn, the argument between mother and daughter soon intensified. From that point, it devolved into somewhat of a rant about her brothers
Starting point is 00:36:00 and how her mother never did anything for her. And that's when things escalated to the point, to violence. She says that she reaches under the table and gets the scissor jack, the car jack, and starts eating her mother with it. Did knock Linda to the floor, Linda got up and slapped Jerry in retaliation and apparently made Jerry angrier. It was a crime of passion.
Starting point is 00:36:35 You don't just hit someone once and if rage is involved it's not just I'm going to hit you once. She beat her mother and kept beating her, kept beating her, and she wouldn't die. Jerry tells investigators that her mother managed to somehow make her way from the living room into the kitchen where Linda took her final breaths. She was gurgling in a blood and trying to talk to her
Starting point is 00:37:05 and that ultimately she just did not want to see her mother suffer anymore. So she took a knife and stabbed her several times with the kitchen knife, which ultimately ended her life. After listening to Jerry Lynn's story, detectives are stunned. I do not know why she felt like she needed to take her mom's life, but there was some anger issues there toward her mom, and I don't really know that it had to do with the place to stay. I think that sometimes those things just build and build and build. Maybe she was just looking for money to buy drugs and, you know,
Starting point is 00:37:52 might be willing to wouldn't give them to her. You try to grasp her straws. You know, you look for some reason that somebody does something like that. I know it's very many ways with that picture in her mind. And it's a picture that's in my mind of her being beaten to death. It's just something that I cannot get to. We're trying to rationalize what may be irrational thought, and that's really impossible to do.
Starting point is 00:38:29 Coming up, a twisted case comes to a devastating close. She took law enforcement officers all the way to the spot to recover the body. It was wrapped in a blanket and then just left there. That began the nightmare of it's been my life. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing know that 40-year-old Jerry Lynn Aklin is responsible for the murder of her own mother, 65-year-old Linda Stingley. Jerry beat her mother to the point that she kind of snapped to for a second and realized there's no way to fix this, so what she do, she goes and gets enough and stabs her,
Starting point is 00:39:21 you know, and finishes the job. While police know how the murder occurred, they still haven't found Linda's body. Jerry Acklin tells us, my mother's dead, the murder occurred in Independence County. The body is in the Malvern area. Following Jerry's directions, police begin the grim search. It was just a short distance off of the road back into the woods, is where her mother's body was dumped.
Starting point is 00:39:53 It was wrapped in a blanket, and then just left there. This was Arkansas in the summertime. They taught in him it, and it was not good that decomposition had already started. and he was not good at decomposition at already starting. With the recovery of Linda's body, Jerry Lynn is officially charged with murder. Around midnight that night, I was told my daughter would stay and they had Jerry Lyndon custody. That began the nightmare of it's been my life. Linda was always there for her children. I just can't imagine that Jury would turn on her that way,
Starting point is 00:40:35 you know, to actually take her life. With Jury Lyndon jail, police prepare for her trial by collecting additional evidence. We actually found Mrs. Stingley's purse and Jerry Aclon's car when we served to search worn on it. As we dug a little bit more, there was a OEM Pontiac scissor jack. That was very obvious that just as Aclon described in her
Starting point is 00:41:00 interview that she used a tire jack to beat her mother until she stopped breathing, as it was absolutely covered in blood and hair. Next, police obtained a search warrant for a thorough sweep of Linda's home. They were able to determine that there had been a lot of blood that had been cleaned up. There was, while not immediately visible, what was visible was like underneath chairs and things in the kitchen.
Starting point is 00:41:26 They started to see blood spatter, and that sort of thing. And then they looked into the dryer, and there was blood in the dryer. They were able to verify that that was a crime scene. Let's pre-gram as far as the particulars of the murder. And then as we start investigating these crime scenes and serving the search warrants, we kind of find,
Starting point is 00:41:49 you know, just how grim it actually is. With an overwhelming amount of evidence against her, Jerry Lynn and her lawyers agree to a plea deal with the state. The offer that was accepted was a term of 30 years on murder in the first degree. Followed by 20 years on residential burglary, followed by six years on theft of property. So these sentences were all to run consecutively
Starting point is 00:42:21 with each other, which means one right after the other. And that was a plea that the family could live with and one that we ultimately enter. On April 28th, 2015, Jary Lynn Acklin enters an Arkansas courtroom for her sentencing. Linda's devastated family waits, hoping to learn the reasons behind the heinous act.
Starting point is 00:42:47 When Jerry Lang came into the courtroom, the judge said to Jerry Lang, he said, would you like to make a statement? And she said, no. And I remember feeling just like we will never ever have a statement from Jerry Lang. That she doesn't even have the courage to turn around and look at her family. What I'd like to say to Cherryman, if you would look at, look at it's all in the eye and tell us why you did this to the person that gave birth took you, went through hell to raise you, and then you did this.
Starting point is 00:43:28 Maybe we might have a little closure. Instead, Joe Canada is left picking up the pieces of her shattered family. That would be a horrific thing to have to deal with for your granddaughter to kill your daughter, you know? That has to be something she's having to live with every day. I go to her grave often and talk to her, say, I know you're okay now, and I'll sing you one day. But oh, how am I she now? I wish I could hug her like I always did.
Starting point is 00:44:20 Jari Lynn Acklin is currently incarcerated at a women's facility in Ritesville, Arkansas. She will not become eligible for parole until 2040.

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