Travis Lewis k*illed her mother and cousin in 1996. She forgiven him, and they became close while he was in jail. She found him work and a place to live after he got out of jail in 2018. Then he k*illed her again in 2020.
Police were called to the Snowden House in Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas, because there was a fire. When they arrived, they found the bodies of Sally Snowden McKay and her cousin, the famous Memphis blues guitarist Lee Baker, which were only partially burned. They were both ki*lled by gunfire. After the fact, police found out that someone had also broken into Lee’s house on June 10, 1996.
Sally Snowden McKay M*urder
The theft, mur*ders, and fire at the Snowden home were all looked into by the police. They found Travis Lewis’s house, whose address was on one of the properties on the estate. He is 16 years old. The two sons of Travis and Lee were good friends. He said he had nothing to do with the ki*llings and even passed a polygraph test.
Police asked Lewis to take a second polygraph test, which he failed, after learning that he had been suspended from school on the day of the mur*ders. Lewis finally admitted to breaking into Lee’s house after being questioned for a while. But he said that a friend who was with him at the time kil*led Sally and Lee.
The police found Sally’s wrecked car across the street from her home. A hair inside the car had Lewis’s DNA on it. His fingerprints were also found on the driver’s side door by the police. Two counts of mu*rder and several other felonies were brought against Travis.
Police think that Sally and Lee saw Travis robbing her house and told the police about it. After k*illing them, he tried to hide the evidence by setting fire to the house. Sadly for Lewis, alert neighbors saw flames coming from the house and called 9-1-1 almost as soon as the fire started.
Lewis was charged as an adult, which meant he could get the death penalty. Lewis took a plea deal from prosecutors that got him 28 ½ years in prison and the chance to get out on parole after serving 70% of his sentence. This kept him from being put to death.
Lewis moved right away to the Snowden Home with Martha McKay, the daughter of the woman he kil*led in 1996, after getting out of prison.
McKay let Lewis off the hook for k*illing her mother and cousin because she was kind and had a big heart. During his 20 years in prison, she went to see him several times. McKay offered to help Lewis get back on his feet after he got out of jail.
Lewis Moves Into The Snowden Home
McKay purchased the Snowden home her mother owned and restored the property. She turned the place into a lavish bed and breakfast. She offered Lewis a room in the B&B as well as a job keeping up the grounds. He gladly accepted the offer.
Lewis and McKay were happy for a short time, but they always believed in the power of forgiveness.
For $10,000, McKay sold a chandelier and put the money somewhere in her house. Someone took the money, and Lewis was the only one in the house at the time. He was fired right away, and she also threw him out of the B&B.
Lewis K*ills Martha; Himself
Lewis broke into the house, stabbed Martha, and hit her with a rock until she died. She called the police by pressing a button on an electronic alert that was linked to her home alarm. When the police arrived at the Snowden home, they found her body at the top of the stairs.
Lewis ran away from home and jumped into Horseshoe Lake, which is close by. He drowned before the police could come and save him. At the time, police didn’t know that the man in the lake was Travis Lewis, the man who kil*led Martha McKay’s mother all those years before.
