The woman who stands accused of Murder in the January 7 shooting death of 37-year-old Joshua Flanagan has a felony arrest and conviction on her record from February 2016 for Theft by Receiving/Credit or Debit Card, pending litigation in Crawford County for leaving the scene of an accident, careless driving and failure to appear as well as two recent DWI arrests in Sebastian County.
Kelsey Dampier (aka Kelsey Stafford) was given a 60 month sentence with suspended imposition of that sentence for the 2016 Theft by Receiving charge and serve no time other than local incarceration prior to her release on bail.
Her charges were updated on Friday. In addition to the First Degree Murder and Reckless Burning original charges, officials added a Contempt charge for failure to pay fines on a previous offense and a Felony Petition to Revoke to her booking sheet based on the previous felony conviction.
She is also being held on a Misdemeanor Assist for an Outside Agency.
Police say Dampier followed Flanagan, the father of three daughters, from one fort Smith residence to another and later told investigators she "pinged" her stolen phone as being in the possession of Flanagan.
She had made a comment at the first residence that she would "kill someone" for stealing her phone.
After the shooting, Flanagan was taken to a local hospital where he died.
Ironically, Today in Fort Smith has been contacted by two sources that say the purple .380 handgun used in the shooting was a stolen firearm.
The only other notation on Dampier/Swafford's records on Arkansas Court Connect involve her role as a defendant in a 2019 divorce action filed by her then spouse.
Damper is scheduled to appear in Court on the Murder charge on January 13 at 9am.
