Family and ex-boyfriend continue to fight to control administration and jurisdiction of Allie Warnick estate
Updated: Aug 12
A judge in Crawford County on Tuesday denied a request by the family of Allegra Tiara Warnick to transfer her probate case and remove the current special administrator.
Circuit Judge Mike Medlock ruled from the bench that the matter remains in Crawford County and that Trenton Reicks continues as special administrator of the estate of Warnick, who died February 5, 2025, after being found unresponsive in a Benton County Detention Center cell.
The August 11 hearing also produced an order barring both sides from posting about the case on social media. Michael William Warnick, the decedent’s father, had sought to remove Reicks and change venue, arguing that Allegra resided with him in Benton County at the time of her death and that Reicks, her former boyfriend, lacked any legal relationship justifying control of the estate.
Reicks, represented by attorney Lloyd W. Kitchens III, was appointed special administrator without bond in June 2025 after filing a petition that listed Warnick’s last known residence as Crawford County and stated the appointment was necessary to pursue negligence and wrongful death claims. Court records show multiple medical providers and other creditors have filed claims against the estate, including substantial amounts from Mercy Health.
Warnick, a 29-year-old mother of three, was arrested the afternoon of February 4, 2025, by Rogers police officers responding to a welfare check at a Casey’s General Store on Hudson Road. Body camera footage showed her barefoot, swaying, incoherent and cradling her dog.
Officers noted signs of a mental health or substance-related crisis yet transported her to the Benton County jail on a Franklin County failure-to-appear warrant without seeking medical evaluation.
She was placed in a booking cell and later moved to Cell 6. Jail logs and family accounts describe a night of progressive decline. Around midnight a pulse oximeter repeatedly failed to register a reading; a medical staff member cleared her as fine and she was left alone.
By early morning, she was found unresponsive. CPR and Narcan were administered, EMS was summoned by a Bentonville police officer who happened to be in the facility, and she was taken to Northwest Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead later that day.
The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory determined the cause of death as alcoholic ketoacidosis complicated by methamphetamine toxicity, chronic pancreatitis, pulmonary congestion and cerebral edema. The manner of death was listed as accident.
Michael Warnick has formally challenged that classification, citing nearly 13 hours of missing jail surveillance footage, alleged failures to monitor a detainee with known medical vulnerabilities, and delays in emergency response. He and other family members have asked the state medical examiner and the Arkansas State Police for further review.
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed in August 2025 by the estate against Benton County and Sheriff Shawn Holloway remains pending in the Western District of Arkansas. The complaint alleges deliberate indifference to obvious medical needs. In June 2026, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark E. Ford granted Michael Warnick’s motion to intervene on behalf of Allegra’s minor children, who have been adopted by their aunt, and stayed the federal case pending a final decision in the Crawford County probate proceeding.
Reicks had signed the verification for the federal suit in his capacity as special administrator.
Documents submitted in the probate case and earlier correspondence highlight a contested personal history between Warnick and Reicks. In a December 2021 letter to the Arkansas Department of Human Services,
Warnick described Reicks as abusive, cited his prior domestic violence arrests including terroristic threatening and domestic battery, and stated she had contacted Legal Aid while seeking time to retain counsel before meeting with a caseworker about their daughter.
She wrote that Reicks had laughed about sending DHS after her family. Reicks has maintained that his role is necessary to advance claims arising from her death.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Judge Medlock heard sworn testimony, reviewed filings that included exhibits from both sides, denied the motion to transfer venue, left Reicks in place as administrator, directed all future notices to attorney Patrick Culver, who appeared for Michael Warnick, and indicated the day’s rulings disposed of the pending motions.
The federal lawsuit remains on hold until the state probate matter reaches a final order.
