Thomas Kevin Blewett, the Carroll County teenager charged with first-degree murder in the 2025 death of another local teen, remains scheduled to face trial beginning June 22.
The trial could be delayed, however, because the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory is still processing evidence, prosecuting attorney Tony Rogers said during a pretrial status hearing on Monday, March 16, in Carroll County Circuit Court in Berryville.
Rogers told Circuit Judge Scott Jackson that the crime lab is still processing several pieces of evidence collected during the investigation into the July 9, 2025, death of 19-year-old Alexzander Drake Bernhardt of Green Forest.
Bernhardt’s body was discovered lying in the middle of County Road 435 north of Oak Grove. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Among the items being processed at the crime lab are a 9-millimeter shell casing and an AR-9 rifle, Rogers said at Monday’s hearing. Rogers also alluded to a 9-millimeter handgun that he said “has never been recovered.”
In response to a question from Jackson, Rogers said the crime lab is keeping prosecutors updated on its progress.
Blewett, who has been free on bond since November, did not join attorney W.H. Taylor at the defense table for Monday’s court appearance. Instead he sat quietly on the first row of benches with other audience members, although he did rise briefly and acknowledge that he understood the proceedings.
Unlike his previous court appearance at a November bond hearing, when he was led into the courtroom wearing a bulletproof vest, handcuffed and shackled at the waist and feet, Blewett was dressed in jeans and a collared shirt for Monday’s proceedings. He sat next to his mother and other family members. He has pleaded not guilty.
The Arkansas State Police led the investigation into Bernhardt’s death at the request of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, according to an affidavit seeking an arrest warrant that was written by ASP Special Agent Jana Cordes.
In the affidavit, Cordes wrote that Blewett shot Bernhardt in the forehead with a 9-millimeter pistol, then removed Bernhardt’s body from the 2016 Kia Soul where he had been shot, abandoned Bernhardt’s body and attempted to clean the vehicle before driving it to a hidden location.
Cordes’ affidavit says witnesses were interviewed at the scene and later at the sheriff’s office in Berryville.
According to the affidavit, a deputy sheriff was informed by a witness that the Life360 application showed that Zander Bodean Slay and a minor had checked into an address off of Arkansas Highway 311. Deputies and ASP troopers made contact with Slay and the minor and transported them to the sheriff’s office. The minor’s mother was transported by personal vehicle to join her child for the interview.
The minor’s name was redacted from a copy of the affidavit provided to the Carroll County News.
Deputies joined in a search for the white 2016 Kia Soul based on a tip that was called into Carroll County dispatchers by Green Forest police officer Tommy Blewett, the father of Thomas K. Blewett, the affidavit says.
Tommy Blewett had told dispatchers that the car was in a wooded area near the Boyd Church on Carroll County Road 436 in rural Oak Grove, according to the affidavit. A CCSO detective found the vehicle and it was secured by the state police, the affidavit says. A deputy observed “an extensive amount” of blood in the back passenger compartment behind the driver’s seat, the affidavit says.
Initial interviews with both Slay and the minor witness disclosed that Thomas Blewett was in the vehicle with Bernhardt but failed to disclose that Blewett was holding the firearm when Bernhardt was shot, the affidavit says.
Within approximately 30 minutes after leaving the sheriff’s office, Cordes’ affidavit says, both Slay and the minor witness returned and voluntarily gave secondary statements.
The minor witness was driving the vehicle with Slay in the front passenger seat, Blewett in the rear passenger seat and Bernhardt in the passenger seat directly behind the driver, the affidavit says.
Slay reported that he heard a gunshot, turned to the back seat and saw Blewett holding a tan pistol in his right hand, according to the affidavit. The minor witness said that when Slay discovered that Bernhardt had been shot, Slay immediately demanded to be let out of the vehicle, the affidavit says. The minor said that Slay was let out of the vehicle on Arkansas Highway 21 North, according to the affidavit. The driver continued a short distance and turned onto County Road 435, the affidavit says. A short distance down County Road 435, the driver stopped the vehicle and Blewett removed Bernhardt’s body from the vehicle, the affidavit says.
Both witnesses reported that Blewett said: “I’m gonna go to prison for life,” immediately after the shooting, according to the affidavit.
The minor witness said that after Blewett removed Bernhardt’s body, he attempted to clean up the vehicle using cleaning wipes that the driver kept in the vehicle, the affidavit says. The driver and Blewett then drove back onto the highway and picked up Slay, according to the affidavit.
During the November bond hearing, Rogers said Tommy Blewett was “not cooperating” with the investigation into Bernhardt’s death. Rogers also noted that Tommy Blewett’s cell phone “pinged at a farm pond at 3:30 a.m.,” near where Bernhardt’s body was discovered.
Blewett’s next court appearance is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, May 8.
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