Thomas Kevin Blewett, the Carroll County teenager charged with first-degree murder in the 2025 death of another local teen, appeared in court Monday, May 18, for what ultimately proved to be a routine pretrial hearing.
The lack of major developments in the case was itself notable to many observers.
Before the hearing convened in the courtroom of the Carroll County Eastern District Courthouse in Berryville, family members of victim Alexzander Drake Bernhardt of Green Forest were among several people protesting what they described as a planned plea agreement that would have allowed Blewett to plead guilty to manslaughter.
Family members said prosecutors had advised them of the potential plea agreement last week. Instead, Carroll County Circuit Judge Scott Jackson met with attorneys on both sides of the case in chambers before the hearing, then opened the official proceedings by asking for motions. Both Carroll County prosecuting attorney Tony Rogers and defense attorney W.H. Taylor indicated they had no motions to introduce.
Jackson noted that Blewett is scheduled for trial beginning June 22 and scheduled a final pretrial status hearing for 1 p.m. Monday, June 1, in Berryville.
Jackson then said he needed to address two matters that should be included in the case record.
“I have received some mail from family members that frankly voiced disappointment with these proceedings,” the judge said.
Jackson said that mail would be entered as exhibits in the case.
Jackson also disclosed that his daughter — who recently graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law — worked as a clerk for Taylor’s law firm last year. Jackson said his daughter had no knowledge of any cases he might preside over, and Taylor said she had been instructed “not to touch any files” involving Carroll County cases.
The hearing included an unusually heavy law enforcement presence, with at least seven deputies from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and several officers from the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division present in the courthouse.
Blewett, who has been free on bond since November 2025, entered the courtroom from a side door shortly before the hearing alongside his mother and attorney. Dressed in slacks and a short-sleeved plaid shirt, tucked at the waist, he sat quietly at the defense table and did not join Taylor in front of Jackson until the judge instructed him to do so. Blewett did not appear to speak during the hearing.
According to an affidavit filed in the case, deputies dispatched to Carroll County Road 435 north of Oak Grove on July 9, 2025, found the 19-year-old Bernhardt lying in the middle of the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
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 after Green Forest police officer Tommy Blewett — Thomas Blewett’s father — called Carroll County dispatchers with a tip about the vehicle’s location, according to the affidavit.
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.
According to the affidavit, the minor witness was driving the vehicle. Slay was seated in the front passenger seat, while Blewett and Bernhardt were in the back seat, 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.
At a hearing in March, Rogers said the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory was still processing several pieces of evidence collected during the investigation, including a 9-millimeter shell casing and an AR-9 rifle. Rogers also alluded to a 9-millimeter handgun that he said “has never been recovered.”
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