The Boys on the Tracks: The Unsolved Deaths of Don Henry and Kevin Ives
- 2 days ago
- 11 min read
On August 23, 1987, best friends Don Henry, 16, and Kevin Ives, 17, were struck by a Union Pacific freight train near the Crooked Creek trestle in Alexander, Arkansas. What authorities first classified as a marijuana-related accident was later reassessed: a Saline County grand jury concluded the boys’ deaths were a probable homicide—yet no one has been charged.
A night in Alexander
Don Henry and Kevin Ives were teenagers from the Bryant area of Saline County. On the night of August 22, 1987, they went out together, reportedly to hunt. By the following morning, they had not returned home.
At approximately 4:00 a.m. on August 23, the crew of a Union Pacific locomotive saw two bodies on the railroad tracks near Alexander, at the boundary of Pulaski and Saline counties. The train crew could not stop in time. Accounts reported that the boys were on or between the rails and that a pale-green tarp and a gun were near the scene. The train crew reported the collision, and local and state law enforcement arrived shortly afterward.
The location was especially close to home for the Henry family: the site was about one mile from their residence. The boys were eventually identified through dental records, and their families were informed the next day
The original ruling
Arkansas State Medical Examiner Dr. Fahmy Malak initially concluded that the teenagers had died accidentally after becoming incapacitated from marijuana use. His formal explanation described “two accidental deaths due to THC intoxication,” proposing that Henry and Ives had smoked enough marijuana to fall asleep on the tracks before the train struck them.
Their parents immediately challenged that account.
The basic question was difficult but crucial: could the boys realistically have been so impaired by marijuana that they lay motionless on an active railroad line while an oncoming freight train approached with lights, horn, and braking? The families sought outside medical opinions, arguing that the official explanation did not fit the physical evidence or the known effects of THC.
Dr. James Garriott, consulted by the families, reportedly concluded that Malak’s claimed THC effect was highly unlikely. Another toxicologist, Dr. Arthur McBray, called the conclusion “very bizarre,” while questioning the premise that marijuana exposure would render someone unconscious in the way the original ruling suggested. The later review also noted that the most reliable drug-testing method discussed in the case—mass spectrometry—had not been performed.
Why the ruling changed
The families’ push for a reinvestigation produced results. In February 1988, following a hearing, the official classification changed from “accidental” to “undetermined.”
A subsequent examination by Georgia medical examiner Dr. Joseph Burton became central to the case. According to accounts summarized by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Burton concluded that the boys had likely smoked only one or two marijuana cigarettes—or joints—rather than an amount consistent with the original incapacitation theory.
The case went before a Saline County grand jury in 1988. That body ultimately classified the deaths as a “probable homicide.” That distinction matters: it did not name offenders or establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but it directly rejected the idea that the evidence supported a simple accidental death on railroad tracks.
Still, the homicide finding did not lead to charges.
Questions about the investigation
The story became as much about the investigation as about the deaths themselves. The parents criticized the initial handling of the scene and what they saw as official resistance to a serious homicide inquiry.
Among the enduring concerns:
The train crew reportedly described a tarp near the bodies, but law enforcement reportedly did not recover one.
A shattered .22-caliber rifle was collected as evidence.
An EMT-related report described the boys’ blood as appearing to lack oxygen, a detail that raised questions about whether they may have been dead before the train struck them.
The boys’ families disputed the original medical conclusion from the outset.
Sheriff James H. Steed Jr. publicly maintained there was no indication of foul play, even after outside experts criticized the original accidental-death theory.
Reporting summarized by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas states that Steed sent the boys’ clothing to the Arkansas State Crime Lab rather than the FBI, despite expectations that it would go to federal investigators for examination.
These issues helped turn the case into one of Arkansas’s most enduring examples of a death initially explained as an accident but later officially regarded as likely homicide.
The drug-trafficking theory
The most discussed theory is that Henry and Ives saw something they were not supposed to see—possibly activity connected to drug trafficking—and were killed before their bodies were placed on the tracks.
This theory emerged in part from comments made during the 1988 grand-jury era. Richard Garrett, an attorney involved in efforts surrounding the case, said the boys may have witnessed something connected to drugs. The possibility was amplified when several people linked by rumor, testimony, subpoenas, or local criminal networks died or disappeared after the original deaths.
However, the distinction between documented fact and allegation is vital:
Supported by the historical record | Not proven |
The deaths were initially ruled accidental, then reclassified as undetermined and later a probable homicide. | That Henry and Ives witnessed a specific drug transaction. |
The case generated allegations concerning local drug activity and official misconduct. | The identity of any killer or killers. |
Individuals believed by some investigators or observers to have relevant information later died or disappeared. | That every later death was connected to the boys’ case. |
No one has been criminally charged for the murders. | That a particular trafficking organization ordered or carried out the killings. |
The theory is plausible enough to remain a major investigative avenue in public discussion, but it has never been established in court.
The witness deaths and disappearances
The case’s most unsettling chapter involves people who were reportedly connected to the broader investigation or rumored drug networks.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas identifies several names commonly discussed in relation to the case:
Keith McKaskle, who had been asked to take aerial photographs of the crime scene, was murdered after Sheriff Steed lost his reelection bid.
Greg Collins, who had been called to testify before the grand jury, died in January 1989 after being shot.
Keith Coney, reportedly called to testify, died in a motorcycle crash.
Daniel “Boonie” Bearden, another subpoena recipient, disappeared.
Jeffrey Edward Rhodes was found dead in a landfill in 1989.
Those events fueled the belief that potential witnesses were being silenced. But the public record does not establish that these deaths and disappearance were all part of a single coordinated conspiracy, nor does it establish who, if anyone, was responsible for harming the boys.
That uncertainty is precisely why the case remains so compelling—and so difficult to resolve responsibly.
Claims involving local corruption
Public suspicion intensified years later when Dan Harmon, a former Saline County prosecutor and attorney who had represented the families, was convicted in 1997 of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, and possession of drugs with intent to distribute. He received an eleven-year federal prison sentence in 1998.
Harmon’s conviction did not prove that he was involved in the deaths of Don Henry and Kevin Ives. It did, however, reinforce the families’ belief that the boys had died in an environment where corruption, drug activity, political influence, and law-enforcement failures could have complicated the pursuit of justice.
For true-crime researchers, this is a necessary distinction: an atmosphere of documented wrongdoing may help explain why an investigation faltered, but it is not itself proof of a specific murder plot.
The Mena and Clinton theories
The case was later pulled into broader Arkansas political conspiracy narratives, particularly allegations involving drug smuggling through the Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport during the 1980s.
In 1994, The Clinton Chronicles, described by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas as a propaganda video, promoted a theory tying then-Governor Bill Clinton to drug shipments, weapons, and money allegedly moving through Arkansas. It speculated that Henry and Ives were killed after stumbling across a shipment or drug-related operation linked to that alleged network.
There is no public court finding establishing that Bill Clinton was involved in the deaths, that the boys witnessed a Mena-connected operation, or that the Mena allegations explain what happened near the tracks. These claims should be presented as unverified conspiracy theories, not as established elements of the case.
A responsible telling of the story must avoid converting political rumor into fact. The central mystery remains local and specific: what happened to two teenagers near the Crooked Creek trestle before a train struck them?
The Billy Jack Haynes allegation
In 2018, former professional wrestler Billy Jack Haynes publicly claimed that he had witnessed the murders while working security for a drug-money drop in 1987. He alleged that Henry and Ives were killed by people connected to a “criminal politician” and that their bodies were placed on the railroad tracks to be mutilated by the train.
The allegation attracted significant attention because it offered a detailed version of the drug-trafficking theory. But it remains uncorroborated publicly, and law enforcement has not verified the account or charged anyone based on it. The allegation is therefore important to the modern history of the case, but it cannot be treated as a solved-case confession or independently confirmed evidence.
The case today
Nearly four decades later, the deaths of Don Henry and Kevin Ives remain unsolved. The record supports several core conclusions:
The boys were struck by a freight train near Alexander, Arkansas, on August 23, 1987.
The original accidental-death finding was challenged by the families and outside experts.
The official classification changed from accidental to undetermined.
A grand jury later determined the deaths were a probable homicide.
The families faced years of resistance, disputed forensic findings, and unanswered questions.
No suspect has been charged or convicted in connection with their deaths.
The “Boys on the Tracks” case endures because it contains all the elements that can turn a local tragedy into a lasting national mystery: disputed forensics, allegations of investigative failure, possible witnesses who died or vanished, and conspiracy theories that grew around real unanswered questions.
But the heart of the story should not be the speculation. It is the loss of Don Henry and Kevin Ives—and the decades-long effort by their families, particularly Kevin’s mother Linda Ives, to obtain an answer that the legal system has never delivered.
For deeper research, Mara Leveritt’s Boys on the Tracks: Death, Denial, and a Mother’s Crusade to Bring Her Son’s Killers to Justice remains a major work on the case. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes it as a significant example of modern Arkansas investigative journalism and notes that the case remains unresolved.
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