Death of Don Henry and Kevin Ives

On August 23, 1987, the bodies of 16-year old Don Henry and 17-year old Kevin Ives were hit by a cargo train in Alexander, Arkansas as they lay on the tracks. The train driver attempted to stop and blew the horn, but the momentum of the train carried it over the bodies. It was later discovered during autopsy that Don Henry had been stabbed in the back and Kevin Ives’ skull had been crushed prior to being run over.

Don Henry
Born
Donald George Henry

(1970-09-30)September 30, 1970
DiedAugust 23, 1987(1987-08-23) (aged 16)
Alexander, Arkansas
Parent(s)
  • Curtis Henry
Kevin Ives
Born
Kevin Larry Ives

(1970-04-28)April 28, 1970
DiedAugust 23, 1987(1987-08-23) (aged 17)
Alexander, Arkansas
Parent(s)
  • Larry Ives
  • Linda Ives

The deaths were initially ruled an accident as a result of the boys sleeping on the tracks due to marijuana intoxication. The parents of the boys insisted on a second autopsy, and after exhumation it was ruled that homicide was likely. Later, another pathologist ruled that Don Henry's shirt showed evidence of a stab wound.

Background

At around 4:00 a.m. on August 23, 1987, a 75-car, 6,000 ton Union Pacific locomotive en route to Little Rock, Arkansas spotted two boys lying motionless across the tracks.[1] Those on the train also claimed they were wrapped in a green tarp.[2] Nearby was a .22 caliber rifle and a flashlight. The bodies did not move when they blared the horn, and though they stopped the train, they were unable to avoid running over the bodies.

Those on the train reported the incident to railroad and law enforcement authorities. By 4:40 a.m., police arrived on the scene. Police never found a tarp.[3]

The boys had reportedly left home around midnight to go hunting. The gun and flashlight near the bodies suggested they were using a hunting technique known as spotlighting, which involves blinding the prey before shooting it.

Autopsies

The state medical examiner, Dr. Fahmy Malak, ruled the deaths an accident as a result of marijuana intoxication, saying the boys had smoked the equivalent of twenty marijuana cigarettes and fell asleep on the tracks.[4] The parents did not accept this finding and conducted their own investigation.

In March 1988, Dr. James Garriot of San Antonio offered a second opinion and was skeptical of the findings about marijuana. A second autopsy by Georgia medical examiner Dr. Joseph Burton found the equivalent of one or two marijuana cigarettes, not twenty. A grand jury ruled the deaths a "probable homicide."[5] When it was found that Don Henry's shirt contained evidence of a stab wound to the back, and Kevin Ives' skull may have been crushed by his own rifle, the ruling was changed to "definite homicide."[6] Don Henry's father also noted that his son would not have risked his gun getting scratched by laying it on gravel.

Suspects and theories

One week before the boys died, a man wearing military fatigues was spotted not far from the train tracks. When police officer Danny Allen attempted to stop him, the man opened fire and managed to disappear into the night. On the same night the boys died, a similar-looking man dressed in military fatigues was spotted nearby.

The usual theory given about the boys' deaths, believed by Linda Ives, involves drug trafficking.[7][8][9] The theory is that the boys came upon a drug drop from an airplane similar to Barry Seal's operations near Mena and were murdered.

Dan Harmon, a prosecutor of the case later arrested for dealing drugs,[10] is one person implicated in the murder. Keith McCaskle, also implicated in the murder, was stabbed to death by an unknown attacker[11] on November 10, 1988.

The case was profiled on the television program Unsolved Mysteries.[12]

See also

Further reading
  • Leveritt, Mara. The Boys on the Tracks: Death, Denial, and a Mother's Crusade to Bring Her Son's Killers to Justice. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0312198411.[13]

References
  1. "Vigils held at Capitol, courthouse 25 years after Ives, Henry deaths - The Saline Courier". www.bentoncourier.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-27. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  2. "Arkansas mom's motion in bid to unseal files says DEA hiding crimes". Arkansas Online. 18 August 2018.
  3. Berry, Cody Lynn. "Kevin Ives and Don Henry (Murder of)." Encyclopedia of Arkansas, February 26, 2018.
  4. KATV (13 August 2018). "Judge orders agencies to review more information in 'Boys on the Tracks' FOIA lawsuit". KATV.
  5. Day, Chris. “Train Deaths Are Officially Homicides.” Arkansas Gazette, March 6, 1988, p. 3B.
  6. "The Mysterious Deaths of Don Henry & Kevin Ives".
  7. "New Witness? Man Claims to Have Seen "Boys on the Tracks" Murders". KARK. 14 February 2018.
  8. "Kevin Ives and Don Henry". www.idfiles.com.
  9. "The Train Deaths". 21 February 2005. Archived from the original on 21 February 2005.
  10. "Former Prosecutor Dan Harmon Arrested". www.mysaline.com. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  11. [Arkansas gravestones.org/view.php?id=1133087 "The-Grave-of-Lionel-Keith-McKaskle"] Check |url= value (help).
  12. https://unsolved.com/gallery/don-henry-kevin-ives/
  13. "The Boys on the Tracks." Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
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