HUGHES, AR - A woman was killed at her home in Horseshoe Lake by a man who was convicted of killing her mother and cousin in 1996, according to authorities.
After years of being away from her beloved home, Martha McKay returned and began renovating the ornate antebellum-style house in 2005, PEOPLE reported. She opened it to the public as a luxury bed and breakfast and wedding venue called Snowden House.
The happy locale, however, was once the scene of a horrific tragedy. In 1996, McKay's mother, Sally Snowden McKay, 75, and their cousin, Memphis blues guitarist Joseph "Lee" Baker, 52, were murdered on the estate's grounds. A quarter century later, McKay was also killed in the same home, and by the same man who killed her mother and cousin.
McKay, 63, was found stabbed and bludgeoned to death at the top of the stairs of the home she revered on March 25, 2020. Identifying her killer did not take long. The man who fatally attacked her jumped from a second story window when police arrived and ran down the sweeping lawn into the lake, where he drowned.
When police pulled the man's body out of the water, they realized who it was: former neighbor Travis Lewis, who had been convicted at 17 years old for the 1996 murders of McKay's mother and cousin.
Lewis pleaded guilty to the murders but never confessed to them, telling police that another man was responsible. Even though Lewis was convicted of killing McKay's mother and cousin, she befriended him after he went to prison, even supporting his early release.
McKay also felt bad that Lewis was just a teenager when the crimes occurred and believed him when he maintained that someone else was responsible, Crittenden County Sheriff Mike Allen said.
Longtime friend Frank Byrd told McKay that he didn't think befriending Lewis was a good idea, but "she didn't answer me," he said. In 2018, Lewis was released on parole and McKay hired him to do work on the property. About a year and a half later, their relationship soured when $10,000 in cash from the sale of a chandelier at the home vanished.
McKay knew that Lewis had been at the house that day and she fired him, McKay's sister Katie Hutton said. Hutton said that she and her family were shocked when they learned that the same man killed her sister, mother and cousin 23 years apart. "We are all just in disbelief," she said.
After years of being away from her beloved home, Martha McKay returned and began renovating the ornate antebellum-style house in 2005, PEOPLE reported. She opened it to the public as a luxury bed and breakfast and wedding venue called Snowden House.
The happy locale, however, was once the scene of a horrific tragedy. In 1996, McKay's mother, Sally Snowden McKay, 75, and their cousin, Memphis blues guitarist Joseph "Lee" Baker, 52, were murdered on the estate's grounds. A quarter century later, McKay was also killed in the same home, and by the same man who killed her mother and cousin.
McKay, 63, was found stabbed and bludgeoned to death at the top of the stairs of the home she revered on March 25, 2020. Identifying her killer did not take long. The man who fatally attacked her jumped from a second story window when police arrived and ran down the sweeping lawn into the lake, where he drowned.
When police pulled the man's body out of the water, they realized who it was: former neighbor Travis Lewis, who had been convicted at 17 years old for the 1996 murders of McKay's mother and cousin.
Lewis pleaded guilty to the murders but never confessed to them, telling police that another man was responsible. Even though Lewis was convicted of killing McKay's mother and cousin, she befriended him after he went to prison, even supporting his early release.
McKay also felt bad that Lewis was just a teenager when the crimes occurred and believed him when he maintained that someone else was responsible, Crittenden County Sheriff Mike Allen said.
Longtime friend Frank Byrd told McKay that he didn't think befriending Lewis was a good idea, but "she didn't answer me," he said. In 2018, Lewis was released on parole and McKay hired him to do work on the property. About a year and a half later, their relationship soured when $10,000 in cash from the sale of a chandelier at the home vanished.
McKay knew that Lewis had been at the house that day and she fired him, McKay's sister Katie Hutton said. Hutton said that she and her family were shocked when they learned that the same man killed her sister, mother and cousin 23 years apart. "We are all just in disbelief," she said.
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Comments
2025-11-29T15:59-0500 | Comment by: Jan
When people tell you who they are, believe them.
2025-11-29T17:59-0500 | Comment by: James
These people who think they can "change" a bad evil person are very, very, wrong!
2025-11-29T18:23-0500 | Comment by: TJ
This story is over 5 years old. Nothing else to report on???