Court records trace the case from a recently purchased pistol and early-morning routine to 17 wounds, an arrest and an eventual guilty plea.
DRASCO, Ark. — Rebecca Mryglod told investigators she began Nov. 8, 2024, by retrieving a recently purchased pistol from her vehicle, then returned to ordinary morning tasks before a shooting inside a Cleburne County home left her former boyfriend critically wounded.
That account of the morning, preserved in an arrest affidavit and later reported by several news organizations, became a central part of the case against Mryglod. Nearly two years later, she pleaded guilty to first-degree domestic battery and received a 20-year prison sentence. The Aug. 18, 2026, disposition ended a prosecution that had initially included an attempted-murder allegation and other felony counts after Kevin Altom was shot 17 times and survived.
Mryglod said she woke at about 5 a.m. on the day of the shooting. She told detectives she went to her vehicle, retrieved a .22-caliber pistol and ammunition and brought them back inside. Investigators said she had purchased the gun three days before the shooting and had practiced firing it. Her statement placed the weapon in her possession hours before deputies were called to the residence on Altom Road.
The day did not immediately proceed to violence, according to the account she gave authorities. Mryglod told detectives she continued with her normal morning activities and put her daughter on a school bus. Afterward, she went back inside. Altom was sitting on a couch. Mryglod said she asked him whether he planned to go to work that day. Investigators said Altom began to stand and spoke to her before Mryglod turned the weapon toward him and opened fire.
The arrest affidavit recorded more than a description of the shooting itself. Mryglod told detectives that she and Altom had ended their relationship but that she had returned to live at the residence to help him with what she called his “spiritual demons.” She also told authorities she no longer wanted to continue in that role. The phrase came from Mryglod’s account; records cited in public reporting did not provide an independent explanation of what Altom was experiencing or establish that the description corresponded to any diagnosed condition.
After the gunfire, the case shifted from Mryglod’s private account to evidence that deputies and emergency crews could document. A 911 caller was described as crying heavily while requesting an ambulance and saying she had shot someone. When deputies arrived, they found Altom suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Reports based on law-enforcement records said he was in severe pain and required emergency transport. He was flown to a hospital in critical condition.
Mryglod was still near the home when authorities arrived. Investigators described blood on her hands and clothing and said she was crying and breathing rapidly. She repeatedly asked whether Altom would die, according to an incident report cited in later coverage. Mryglod told authorities she had walked down the driveway, called 911 and discarded the pistol in nearby weeds. Deputies searched the area and recovered the firearm roughly 100 yards from the house.
The condition of the pistol offered investigators another piece of the sequence. Authorities described it as a black KelTec .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun with an empty magazine and its slide locked back. Inside the residence, investigators reported recovering six cartridge casings. They also found additional ammunition and hearing protection associated with Mryglod. Accounts of the search said marijuana packaged in multiple containers was present in the home, a discovery that contributed to a separate drugs-and-firearm allegation after her arrest.
The number of casings described in the residence did not by itself represent the total number of wounds ultimately reported. Medical and local news accounts said Altom had been struck 17 times. He survived but required extensive surgery and remained in critical care during the early period after the shooting. One bullet damaged his colon and caused an infection, according to reports based on case records. Public reporting reviewed for this story has not provided a comprehensive update on his present health.
Detectives interviewed Mryglod after advising her of her rights, according to the arrest affidavit. Her statements helped investigators establish the timeline they presented in support of the charges: she had obtained the weapon shortly before the incident, brought it into the home early that morning, completed routine family tasks, encountered Altom inside and then fired as he rose from the couch. The affidavit also recorded her explanation of the strained relationship and her stated desire to stop helping Altom with the problems she described.
Authorities arrested Mryglod on serious allegations after the shooting. Reports and sheriff’s booking information listed attempted first-degree murder, first-degree domestic battery and simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms among the accusations. Her bond was listed at $700,000. Those entries reflected the case at the arrest stage, not its final resolution. Criminal charges can change as evidence is evaluated and plea negotiations proceed, and Mryglod’s case ultimately ended with a different combination of counts than the one first reported.
She remained incarcerated while the case moved through Cleburne County Circuit Court. By the time she appeared before Judge Tim Weaver in August 2026, she had accumulated 648 days of pretrial custody. Mryglod entered a negotiated guilty plea to first-degree domestic battery. Local court reporting said another domestic-battery count and the simultaneous-possession charge were nolle prossed. Reports characterized the attempted-murder allegation as having been reduced or displaced by the first-degree domestic-battery count resolved through the plea.
Weaver sentenced Mryglod to 240 months, or 20 years, in the Arkansas Division of Correction. Arkansas law generally classifies first-degree domestic battery as a Class B felony unless specified aggravating circumstances alter the classification. State sentencing law authorizes between five and 20 years of imprisonment for a Class B felony. The sentence imposed in Mryglod’s case therefore matches the maximum term in that general range. Weaver ordered that the 648 days already spent in custody count toward the sentence.
The final judgment rests on the guilty plea, not solely on the narrative contained in the 2024 affidavit. That distinction separates the evidence investigators cited while seeking charges from the offense to which Mryglod ultimately admitted guilt. The discarded firearm, ammunition, medical findings, 911 call and interview statements explain how authorities built the case, while the August 2026 plea determines the conviction reflected in the court disposition.
An attorney for Mryglod declined to comment when contacted by a news organization after the sentencing. No current public statement from Altom about the plea was located. With the negotiated case resolved, Mryglod is serving the 20-year sentence imposed for first-degree domestic battery, with credit for her time in jail before judgment.
Author note: Last updated September 29, 2026.