The Crawford County case unfolded over two visits to a Chester-area home before ending with two guilty pleas and lengthy prison sentences.
CHESTER, Ark. — The first visit ended with two men leaving a rural home after an argument. The second ended with Jay Collins and Donny Shipp shot inside and the departing men at the center of a double murder investigation.
Nearly a year later, the criminal cases have concluded with prison sentences totaling 180 years. Billy Joe Nelson, 45, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and received consecutive 80-year terms. Eddie Sterling, 54, pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension and tampering with physical evidence and received 20 years. The legal resolutions provide a final judgment on the defendants’ crimes, but the full cause of the underlying financial conflict remains only partly public.
The sequence began on June 24, 2025, at Collins’ home on Lands End Road near Chester in Crawford County. Investigators said Nelson and Sterling visited during the day and became involved in a disagreement over money. Sheriff Daniel Perry later described the issue as a debt between families. One person had allegedly warned that there would be consequences if the debt was not resolved, Perry said during the early investigation.
Nelson and Sterling left after that encounter. Public reports do not say how long they were away, where they went or whether anyone communicated with Collins before they returned. They do establish that Sterling obtained a gun and that the men later drove back to the property. Sterling told investigators that the purpose of the trip was to work out a deal that would protect him and his family, according to an affidavit reported by local news organizations.
Sterling also offered a separate explanation for why they were in the area, saying he and Nelson had been looking into getting a transmission for their vehicle. The accounts are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but the publicly available summaries do not fully reconcile them. What matters to the established chronology is that Nelson went inside Collins’ home while Sterling waited in the vehicle.
Sterling had parked in a way that would allow the vehicle to leave quickly if something happened, he told detectives. He said he did not know Nelson intended to hurt anyone. From outside, Sterling heard more than five gunshots, according to the affidavit. Nelson then came back to the vehicle, shouted for Sterling to go and got inside. Sterling drove away.
Inside the residence, Collins, 66, and Shipp, 70, had been shot. Deputies responding late that night found both men wounded. Collins died at the home. Shipp was airlifted to a hospital but later died. Authorities did not publicly identify another injured person or another shooter. Perry said Nelson had fired multiple rounds during the renewed confrontation.
The sheriff described the immediate lead-up in brief terms. Words were exchanged after the men returned, and the encounter escalated into gunfire. That account established the broad sequence but left many details for the criminal investigation: who spoke first, whether the argument continued from the earlier visit, how long Nelson was in the house and precisely where Collins and Shipp were located when the shooting began.
Investigators moved quickly after the deaths. Nelson and Sterling were found the next day at a residence in Uniontown, another Crawford County community. Both were taken into custody and brought to the Crawford County Justice Center. Authorities booked them on two capital murder allegations each and held them without bond ahead of their first court appearance.
At that stage, Perry emphasized that the shooting was not random. Investigators believed the dispute involved money and possibly drugs, he said. Later coverage of the court outcomes continued to describe a debt between the families, but the available plea reports did not prove that drugs caused the attack. Because the cases ended in guilty pleas rather than a trial, prosecutors did not have to present a complete public narrative addressing every early investigative theory.
The search for the weapon became another part of the investigation. Perry said Sterling admitted retrieving the gun, although Sterling was not accused of firing it. Deputies returned to the area after the arrests to look for the firearm. Reports about Sterling’s eventual plea do not specify what item formed the basis of the physical-evidence count, where it was found or what he admitted doing to it. The conviction establishes that he tampered with evidence, but the limited public summaries do not supply every factual detail.
Nelson’s case reached its decisive point on May 13, 2026. Rather than proceed to trial on the original capital murder accusations, he pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. He also pleaded in connection with habitual-offender status, which indicated prior qualifying felony convictions and increased his sentencing exposure. The earlier convictions underlying that status were not detailed in the reports reviewed for this account.
The judge imposed one 80-year sentence for Collins’ death and one for Shipp’s. The choice to run the terms consecutively was central to the final punishment. Had they run concurrently, both would have been served during the same period. By ordering one term to begin after the other, the court produced a 160-year sentence and preserved a distinct punishment for each killing.
Sterling’s case ended through different offenses. He pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension and tampering with physical evidence, receiving 20 years in prison. The disposition did not convict him of murdering Collins or Shipp, despite the original capital murder accusations. It instead held him responsible for conduct that assisted in avoiding authorities or obstructed the investigation after the gunfire.
The change from the arrest charges to the final convictions reflects how criminal cases can narrow as evidence is reviewed and plea agreements are reached. An arrest accusation states what authorities believe they have probable cause to pursue. A conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt or a defendant’s valid guilty plea. Nelson admitted the killings. Sterling admitted separate crimes that carried a far shorter sentence than murder.
No trial means there was no public presentation of the state’s full forensic case. Jurors did not hear testimony about bullet paths, firearms testing, cellphone records or any other evidence prosecutors may have collected. The defense did not cross-examine investigators or test Sterling’s account before a jury. The pleas resolved criminal responsibility without producing the type of detailed evidentiary record that a contested trial often creates.
The case therefore has a clear legal ending but an incomplete public explanation of the dispute. Authorities linked the violence to debt, threats and a return visit. The guilty pleas establish Nelson’s responsibility for two murders and Sterling’s responsibility for obstructive and evidence-related conduct. They do not reveal the debt’s amount, its origin or why the parties believed an in-person confrontation was necessary.
Perry said early in the case that no additional suspects were being sought. The later plea and sentencing reports did not identify anyone else facing charges. With Nelson sentenced to 160 years and Sterling sentenced to 20, the prosecutions arising from the shootings appear to be complete.
The final record traces a rapid escalation: an argument during one visit, preparations for another, gunfire after Nelson entered the home, a getaway and arrests the following day. Collins and Shipp were dead before the dispute could be resolved. The court’s answer came months later through consecutive sentences that will keep Nelson imprisoned for the remainder of his life and a separate 20-year term for Sterling.
Author note: Last updated July 13, 2026.