Reginald Larue Baker, pictured here, and Daniel Paul Blanks killed Richard Phillips, say Arkansas authorities. (Mug shot: Washington County, Arkansas)
A man has pleaded guilty to helping kidnapping and murder an Arkansas resident who was accused of raping a young girl.
According to court documents filed on Friday, Reginald Larue Baker, 43, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for a count each of accomplice to murder in the first degree, accomplice to kidnapping, and accomplice to aggravated residential burglary. He received 861 days time served.
Authorities have said that he and co-defendant Daniel Paul Blanks, 45, were at a birthday party with Richard Phillips, 39, as well as a teenage girl on Oct. 27, 2021. The girl told Baker and Blanks that Phillips raped her when she was 6 years old, according to investigators.
Baker — who used to date Phillips’ wife — allegedly became enraged and reportedly grabbed a knife from the kitchen and said he was going to kill Phillips. The girl, who was still a juvenile, reportedly told investigators that she was able to calm Baker down and got him to promise that he would not physically harm Phillips.
But the Springfield Police Department said they received a call on the night of Nov. 23, 2021. Two men broke into Phillips’ apartment and brutally attacked him, his friend told authorities.
While beating him unconscious, the two accused Phillips of sexually assaulting a little girl, authorities said. The suspects dragged Phillips’ body down from the third floor apartment into a vehicle, according to officials.
Responding officers discovered a trail of blood leading out the front door to a spot where the friend said the suspects parked their car.
Phillips’ body was discovered on Nov. 27, 2021, by a group of hunters in a heavily wooded area of Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. Phillips had reportedly been stripped naked, severely beaten, and shot multiple times. His body was also reportedly mutilated.
Investigators obtained the girl’s phone, which reportedly held text messages between her and Baker. Police said after Phillips went missing, the girl texted Baker asking if he had anything to do with it, and he replied that he did not.
Authorities, however, said they matched Blanks’ truck to the one that the suspects used, and that it had blood on its bed. Police found Baker and Blanks sitting in Baker’s truck on the property and took them into custody without incident, they said.
The men were set to be tried in Arkansas because that’s where authorities believe the murder happened. Blanks is scheduled for a status hearing to take place Sept. 20.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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