Boyfriend who covered dead girlfriend with 'leaves and sticks' in the woods, then claimed she was missing and possibly abducted learns fate

Inset: Aaron Malone (Barry County Sheriff's Office). Background: Aaron Malone and Aspen Lewis (Facebook/Aaron Malone).

A Missouri man is headed to prison for slaughtering his girlfriend and dumping her body in the woods, where she was found "covered with leaves and sticks" after he reported her missing and tried to claim she was abducted.

Aaron Malone, 24, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Tuesday, according to court records. Malone was found guilty in April by a Jasper County jury of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the disappearance and death of his 24-year-old girlfriend Aspen Lewis in November 2024.

Prosecutors and police said Malone reported Lewis as missing and told investigators he believed she was abducted.

"Throughout our criminal investigation, inconsistencies were located in Aaron's statement," police wrote in a probable cause affidavit for Malone's arrest.

While speaking to Malone about Lewis' disappearance, authorities noticed a "large blood stain in the roadway behind Aaron's truck." Investigators also discovered bloodstains on Aaron's truck and the gravel driveway "appeared to be disturbed," according to the affidavit.

"Jewelry pieces were located on the ground," the document stated. "Nearby video surveillance showed Aaron's truck arrived at the residence at approximately 11:35 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2024. Shortly afterward on video surveillance screaming can be heard."

Malone's truck was caught on video leaving the residence with him inside around 1:35 a.m. and then returning at 4:10 a.m., not long after he called police to report Lewis as missing.

Police interviewed Malone and asked him about the blood and surveillance footage, to which he responded that he would take investigators to Lewis' body. As police pulled up to a rural location Malone directed them to, they observed "the remains of a burnt pink" shirt in the roadway. Lewis was found "off the roadway" moments later.

"The victim had extensive head trauma," the affidavit said. "In a post-Miranda interview … Aaron Malone admitted to an altercation taking place and disposing of the body."

During his trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing how Malone "repeatedly assaulted the victim in the face, strangled her, and shot her before leaving her body in the woods in Barry County," according to the Missouri Attorney General's Office. It took jurors roughly an hour to convict Malone after a three-day trial.