On June 14, 2004, Donna Marie Willis Cary, 45, was shot and killed at the Cornerstone Monument Company in De Queen, Arkansas. A resident of Gillham and a truck driver for the Cattlemen’s Livestock Market in Glenwood, she was at the business when an armed man entered with the intent to rob the shop. The company’s owner, Mona Shelton, was also shot and killed during the incident. Donna was born October 13, 1958, and was active in the Community of Christ Church in Grannis.

Witnesses saw a man leave the monument company and get into a distinctive Ford Mustang with Oklahoma plates. An Arkansas State Police Trooper later spotted that vehicle near the Arkansas–Oklahoma border, and a high-speed pursuit followed into Broken Bow, Oklahoma. The suspect, identified as Mickey David Thomas, abandoned the Mustang at his mother’s house, then committed an armed carjacking before being arrested by Oklahoma authorities. Thomas had prior convictions including kidnapping and robbery and had been released from prison about a year earlier.

Thomas waived extradition to Arkansas and was returned to Sevier County on two counts of capital murder; the case was moved to Pike County for trial, where a jury found him guilty and imposed two death sentences. Does anyone have further information about Donna’s life in Gillham or her work that could help preserve her memory?