On the evening of July 9, 2025, 19-year-old Alexzander Drake Bernhardt was found unresponsive in the middle of a county road in rural Oak Grove, Arkansas. First responders arrived around 8:37 p.m.; Bernhardt was pronounced dead at the scene and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by the Arkansas State Police, opened a homicide investigation.

Investigators focused on a group of young people who had been together in a 2016 Kia Soul shortly before the body was found. According to an affidavit, two front-seat occupants said they heard a single gunshot from the rear, then saw a rear passenger holding a pistol. The witnesses said the shooter removed Bernhardt’s body from the car and attempted to wipe the interior before driving the vehicle to a concealed location. Life360 location data helped police locate and interview the two witnesses.

On July 18, 2025, authorities arrested 18-year-old Thomas Kevin Blewett of Oak Grove and charged him with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. Blewett is accused of shooting Bernhardt in the forehead with a 9mm handgun; he was held on $1,000,000 bond and has pleaded not guilty. The investigation remains ongoing.

If anyone has information about Bernhardt, the vehicle, or events that evening, please share what is known with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office.