True Criime Cjronicles: Madison County woman with multiple sclerosis died a cruel death at the hands of her boyfriend

In the often-unforgiving hills near Pettigrew in Madison County Joan Larson lived with he live-in boyfriend, Edward Allen Austin, in an RV. Larson suffered from multiple sclerosis and needed regular help from another person or a cane simply to walk. That vulnerability shaped the final days of her life in early January 2022.

On January 5, Huntsville police arrested Austin for being under the influence of an intoxicant in a public place. Later that evening, Madison County deputies conducted a welfare check at the couple’s RV and found no sign of Larson. A search began. Around 11 p.m., friends and family located her about 200 yards from the home, down a steep, wooded, vine-covered mountainside.

Her shirt was ripped open. Scratches covered her body. She was suffering from severe hypothermia.

According to accounts she gave while still alive, Austin had grown angry, frightened her, struck her, and dragged her through thorny bushes before leaving her in the ravine. She told investigators he forced himself on her sexually and said words to the effect that no one would find her there.

Family members present at the scene independently told deputies they believed he had dragged her down the hill and abandoned her. An elderly dog on the property could barely walk.

Edward Allen Austin

Austin, then 53, was held without bond at the Madison County Holding Facility. He initially faced charges of attempted capital murder, rape, and kidnapping. During an interview, he claimed someone had been shooting him in the back of the neck with a dart while he drove from the camper to Huntsville

. Investigators also noted that in October 2021 he had been arrested for false imprisonment, assault on a family or household member, and criminal trespass after dragging Larson across the yard as she yelled for him to stop.

Larson was taken to Washington Regional Medical Center. She died there on February 10, 2022, thirty-five days after being found. The prolonged exposure and injuries, combined with her limited mobility from multiple sclerosis, proved fatal.

Neighbors later told police that roughly twenty-four hours before her discovery, both Austin and Larson had been outside their home showing signs of intoxication, with communication difficult.

The case proceeded as a homicide. On March 11, 2025, Edward Allen Austin, then 56, appeared in Madison County Circuit Court and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He admitted that he knowingly caused Larson’s death under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.

The court sentenced him to twenty-five years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. He beomes parole-eligible on July 14, 2034 and is currently on the Arkansas Department of Corrections " Madison County Hold " list and is being detained in the Lafayette County Detention Center on an inter-county agreement.

Prosecuting Attorney Brandon Carter expressed thoughts for Larson’s family and friends, particularly those who helped find her and cared for her in her final weeks.

The plea closed a case that began with a public intoxication arrest, a missing vulnerable woman, and a remote ravine in the Madison County hills, ending more than three years later with a lengthy prison term for the man who left her there.