Donnie Combs, 46, and his girlfriend Cynthia Arnold disappeared from Cass County, Texas, on September 26, 2018, after Combs called Arnold to come pick him up. Arnold called her mother later to say Combs had not arrived at their meeting spot; that was the last contact with either of them. A few days later Arnold’s truck was found abandoned and burned on a Marion County road.

A witness who later testified said both victims were taken to a rural Cass County property where Kevin Dewayne Shepard Jr. shot Arnold in the head, then shot Combs; Combs tried to flee but was pursued and more gunshots and sounds of pistol-whipping were heard. The witness said Shepard Jr. returned alone carrying a rolled-up carpet with visible boots, threw it into a fire pit, moved Arnold’s body into the pit and burned both bodies using tires and trash, and then drove and burned Arnold’s truck on a county road.

Bones recovered from the indicated fire pit included some human fragments, but thermal damage prevented usable DNA extraction. In October 2020 Kevin Dewayne Shepard Jr. and his uncle Gary Edward Shepard were indicted for capital murder; in June 2022 Kevin Shepard Jr. was convicted and sentenced to life without parole. Gary Shepard is awaiting trial.

Did anyone who knew Donnie Combs or Cynthia Arnold see them in Cass or Marion County around September 26, 2018?