As photos of his remains, partially unearthed from the spot beneath a backyard shed where they laid hidden for more than a year, were shown to a jury Tuesday, Richard York's family sobbed.
Chad Allen Jernigan, 42, pleaded guilty to abuse of a corpse Tuesday before testimony began in his punishment-only trial before a four-man, eight-woman jury. Jernigan, who did not testify, received a maximum 10-year sentence, a maximum $10,000 fine and agreed to pay $1,000 in restitution to the York family for Richard York's final expenses.
Richard York died of a methamphetamine overdose while on Jernigan's property July 4, 2017, witnesses testified. Richard York was helping Jernigan move furniture on the day of his death.
Rather than call 911, Jernigan bound Richard York's hands and feet with old electrical cables, wrapped him in plastic and tore up a section of flooring in his two-story, backyard shed.
Beneath the floor Jernigan cut out the joists to make room for Richard York's remains, Texarkana, Ark., Crime Scene Investigator Josh Jones testified. Jernigan covered his best friend with dirt, poured concrete over him, replaced the floor and placed a shelf stacked with miscellaneous items on top.
Texarkana, Texas, Detective Tabitha Smith testified that she worked the missing persons case after Richard York's family reported him missing in July 2017. Smith said that based on information provided by Jernigan, roughly 50 police and volunteers searched a wooded area of town.
Texarkana, Ark., Detectives Jason Haak and Wayne Easley testified that their department spent countless man hours after learning that Jernigan may have buried the body in his yard and that Jernigan led officers on a short, high-speed chase the day of his arrest. Easley testified that Jernigan confessed after his arrest and gave them instructions on where to find the corpse.
"He said he'd just had the house appraised for $180,000 and he didn't want us busting it up," Easley testified.
More than a dozen officers spent a full day carefully removing dirt and concrete with spoons and paint brushes from the burial site, which was then sifted over a tarp as investigators scoured the debris for shreds of evidence.
Will Guyton, a friend of Jernigan's, testified that a few months before the police unearthed Richard York's body, Jernigan solicited his help to move the body to a location where it would be found. Guyton said he told his wife and that she told others after their marriage became troubled. In July 2018 someone told police.
Guyton testified that Jernigan sent him an email which said, "Rat, rat, rat," after his arrest.
Guyton said Jernigan sold methamphetamine and had a "grow room" on the upper floor of his outdoor shed. Guyton testified that Jernigan told him he panicked when Richard York died because he didn't want his illicit dealings exposed to police.
"Shame on you Chad. Shame on you," York's mother, Cynthia Hughes, said from the witness stand as she turned her gaze to the defense table and addressed Jernigan. "I asked you. I begged you to tell me where he was."
Hughes turned back toward the jury and continued, "He never answered me."
Richard York's sister, Angela York, was formerly married to Jernigan and the two had a child together. Angela York testified that her teen daughter now has vivid and terrifying nightmares about being buried by her father and struggles with the knowledge that the bedroom she occupied in her father's house was just feet from her uncle's missing body.
In her closing argument, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kristian Robertson read a victim impact statement penned by Jernigan's daughter in which she recalls how she searched "relentlessly" for her uncle and how she consoled Jernigan when he cried over the loss of his best friend.
Assistant Public Defender Kerry Wood reminded the jury in her closing that Jernigan pleaded guilty and that he wanted Richard York's body to be found.
Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Black told the jury that if Jernigan receives the maximum 10-year sentence allowed for the offense of abuse of a corpse, he will be parole-eligible in little more than a year with credit for the time he has already spent in jail waiting for trial.
Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Potter Barrett asked the jury to consider the many days of anguish felt by the York family during the year their loved one was missing, as well as the time and manpower expended by both Texarkana police departments.
"Prosecutors choose this line of work in which we have to experience the graphic details of crimes, but the citizens of Miller County do not make that choice," Barrett said of crime-scene photos the jury viewed which depicted the gradual unearthing of Richard York's body.
"They endured the brutality of this crime through images and testimony and witnessed the pain and suffering Richard York's family went through. Our system of justice would not work without their service. I thank them for their service and for dispensing justice that Chad Jernigan deserved for his intentional acts. I also want to thank both the Texarkana, Arkansas, and Texarkana, Texas, Police department for their tireless efforts for over a year in order to solve this crime," Barrett said.
Robertson said that she hopes Richard York's family can now grieve his loss with Jernigan on his way to an Arkansas prison.
"Not knowing where your son, father, brother or uncle is, not knowing if he is alive is the greatest suffering a family can experience," Robertson said. "Richard York's family, which includes the defendant's own daughter, experienced that suffering at the hands of Chad Jernigan far too long."