True Crime Chronicles: A divorce, an angry ex-husband, and murder for hire plot sent a Leflore County man away for life
- Dennis McCaslin
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
In the spring of 1989, Jackie Dale Lowrimore Sr. and his former wife, Shirley Jean Key Lowrimore, were navigating the aftermath of their divorce. Lowrimore, then about 40 and living in the Panama area of LeFlore County, devised a plan to have her killed. Shirley Lowrimore, 39, had moved across the state line to Fort Smith.
Lowrimore first approached Jimmy Thomas, offering $1,200 in cash plus forgiveness of a roughly $1,100 debt Thomas owed him. Thomas accepted the contract but subcontracted the work to Ronnie Woodson, who took the money and did nothing. Thomas then turned to Phillip Allen Potter, a juvenile at the time living in Oklahoma. Potter agreed to the job for $350 --$200 toward a used car and $150 for expenses related to an upcoming move.
Thomas supplied Potter with three guns obtained from Lowrimore, including a .20-gauge shotgun, and lent him a vehicle. Between late May and mid-June 1989, Potter and associates made repeated trips from Oklahoma to Arkansas, scouting opportunities.
On the evening of July 22, 1989, outside Shirley Lowrimore’s apartment in Fort Smith, the group acted. Potter and Jeremy Parker approached on foot while another waited in the vehicle. After an initial hesitation, Parker fired five shots from the shotgun -- loaded with birdshot and deer slugs -- striking her as she walked toward her apartment. S
he sustained more than 100 pellet wounds to her head, arms, legs and upper torso but survived and received hospital treatment.
Potter initially reported to Thomas that the job was complete, but it was not. Lowrimore demanded the return of the .20-gauge shotgun so he could dispose of it and pressed Thomas to finish the task. He provided keys to Shirley Lowrimore’s apartment and car and continued to insist she be killed.
On Sept. 29, 1989, Shirley Lowrimore was found dead in a rural area of LeFlore County,. She had been beaten, strangled and shot. Her body was discovered in or near her vehicle. An attempt had been made to burn the vehicle.
Federal authorities pursued the case in the Western District of Arkansas because of the interstate elements: the hiring crossed state lines, and the failed July attack occurred in Fort Smith. Lowrimore faced charges of conspiracy to commit murder for hire and aiding and abetting the use of interstate commerce facilities in a murder-for-hire scheme, under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 371 and 1958(a).
At trial, both Thomas and Potter testified against Lowrimore. Thomas detailed the payments, weapons, and ongoing pressure after the botched shooting. Potter confirmed he acted at Lowrimore’s direction through Thomas.
The jury convicted Lowrimore on both counts. In January 1991, U.S. District Judge H. Franklin Waters sentenced him to 262 months in prison, three years of supervised release, a $20,000 fine and a $100 special assessment.
Lowrimore appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, raising issues about evidentiary rulings, a brief mention of his Oklahoma murder charge during testimony, a prosecutor’s comment on lack of remorse during cross-examination, and sentencing procedures.
The appellate court affirmed the conviction and sentence in January 1991, finding no reversible error. The court noted that any procedural issues at sentencing were harmless given the trial evidence supporting enhancements for planning, injury, firearm use, financial motive (including a possible insurance policy) and Lowrimore’s leadership role.
Following the federal trial, Lowrimore was convicted in Oklahoma state court of murdering his former wife. He received a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Shirley Jean Key Lowrimore was born June 12, 1950. Her memorial describes her simply as a loving mother. She was buried at Oakland Cemetery in Poteau. The gravesite inscription reads: “My Loving Mother -- Forever in Peace With The Lord.”
