NEWTON COUNTY : Man, 41, sentenced to 32 years in prison for ’05 slayings of 2
Posted on Saturday, September 6, 2008
A Newton County man was sentenced Friday to 32 years in prison on reduced charges of manslaughter for killing two men in 2005 and burning their bodies.
William Ashworth, 41, was convicted in circuit court in the slayings of Tim Eddings, 37, and Lee’O “Tilton” Housden III, 21, both of Newton County.
Ashworth was scheduled to stand trial Monday on two counts of capital murder, but prosecutors reduced the charges Friday, said Wendy Howerton, one of Ashworth’s attorneys.
Ashworth pleaded no contest to two counts each of manslaughter and abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison with eight years suspended.
“William acted in self-defense, but he acted a little too hastily — a little too quickly,” Howerton said after Friday’s plea. “He was able to apologize to the families [of the dead men ] today, and that’s something he’s wanted to do for a long time.” Ashworth told sheriff ’s investigators he shot Eddings and Housden on Oct. 19, 2005, as they were coming to burn down his house, according to an arrest affidavit.
He said he shot them after they sneaked onto his property and were walking toward his house. Eddings had a gun, and Housden had a can of gasoline.
Howerton said was bad blood between Ashworth and Eddings over Eddings’ persistent interest in Ashworth’s then 15-year-old daughter.
“[Eddings ] had an infatuation with the girl, but William told him that wasn’t going to be allowed,” she said. “Apparently, [Eddings ] wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Housden wasn’t involved in the feud and was in the wrong place at the wrong time, Howerton said.
Calls to Housden’s father, Lee’O Housden Jr., weren’t returned Friday. Eddings’ family couldn’t be reached for comment.
A telephone message left for Newton County Prosecuting Attorney Ron Kincade also was not returned.
Eddings and Lee’O Housden III were last seen leaving a home in Shiloh Mountain, east of Jasper, where they were repairing a roof. Eddings’ pickup was found several miles away on Arkansas 21, near Fallsville.
In late August 2007, an informant told the FBI that he helped Ashworth drive Eddings’ pickup to the logging road, the affidavit states.
The informant said he helped Ashworth drive the bodies, which were wrapped in tarps, into the woods, and Ashworth burned them there, the affidavit states. The informant was not charged.
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