Inset: Billy Joe Nelson (Crawford County Sheriff's Office). Background: The road near where Nelson shot and killed two men in Chester, Ark. (Google Maps).
Two Arkansas men are facing down the better part of two centuries behind bars – but in decidedly unequal measure in terms of both sentencing and culpability.
In May, Billy Joe Nelson, 45, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in the first degree and one count of being a habitual offender over the deaths of 66-year-old Jay Collins and 70-year-old Donny Shipp.
In turn, Nelson was sentenced to spend 160 years in a Natural State prison – receiving one 80-year sentence for each murder which were assessed to run consecutively, or one after another.
This week, Eddie Sterling, 54, pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension and tampering with physical evidence. He was subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The underlying incidents occurred in late June 2025, at Collins' home on Lands End Road in Chester – a tiny Ozarks town located some 30 miles northeast of Fort Smith, near the border with Oklahoma.
Both victims were found shot inside the residence late at night, Crawford County Sheriff Daniel Perry told Fort Smith-based ABC affiliate KHBS and Fayetteville-based The CW Plus affiliate KHOG, which collectively broadcast as "40/29 News."
Investigators say the defendants visited the victims' residence earlier that same day and left after arguing about money.
"There was some discussion between the two about some debt between the families," Perry told the local TV stations. "And one had made a threat to the other one that if the debt didn't get taken care of, that there would be consequences for their actions."
Then, Nelson and Sterling went back to the house and an altercation began anew – this time ending with gunfire.
"Words were exchanged, and they pulled a gun and started shooting," the sheriff added.
Nelson fired multiple shots – killing both men. Collins died at the scene of the crime. Shipp was airlifted to a nearby hospital but ultimately succumbed to his injuries.
Sterling did not fire a weapon that day. Instead, his role was in securing the gun used to commit the crime.
"Eddie Sterling said he went and got the gun," Perry explained. "He is not the shooter, but he was the one that went and retrieved the gun for the two."
During an interview, Sterling said he drove Nelson to the house so they could "work out a deal to protect [Sterling] and his family," according to an affidavit obtained by Rogers-based NBC affiliate KNWA.
Eddie Sterling (Crawford County Sheriff's Office).
The less-culpable man said he did not know Nelson actually intended to hurt anyone that fateful day.
Sterling also admitted to angling the car in such a way so that he and Nelson could make a quick break for it "in case something happened."
And something did.
Sterling stayed in the vehicle while Nelson went inside. He recalled hearing more than five shots reverberating through the wooded area near the Boston Mountains – and then he heard Nelson shouting "Go!" as he jumped into the vehicle, according to the affidavit.
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