True Crime Chronicles Drug-related double homicide in 1983 sent three to prison for life; one remains incarcerated

Ford E. Strafaci

Ford E. StrafaciFord E. Strafaci, born July 31, 1958, received a life sentence on April 18, 1984, in Montgomery County for first-degree murder along with 10 years for manufacturing, delivery, or possession of a controlled substance.

The crime took place on August 22, 1983, in Montgomery County. Strafaci shot and killed Larry Lynn Buckelew and Edmond Callen with a shotgun. Accomplices Travis Smith and Terry Miller helped bury the bodies afterward, and Strafaci disposed of the weapon in Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs.

The murders grew out of an illegal drug manufacturing operation involving methamphetamine and related chemicals. Luther Edward Skeels, also known as Eddie Skeels, acted as the main instigator. When Skeels found out that Buckelew and Callen had been stealing chemicals from the group, he gave Strafaci a shotgun in Georgia and told him to handle it or not come back.

Skeels even laid out how to bury the bodies and use lime to help them break down faster.

Clay Holcomb, who was part of the same drug operation, later described these plans in court. Strafaci and Smith did the shooting, and Smith later said he went along with it in part because Skeels had threatened his family.

Public records offer little background on the victims. Larry Lynn Buckelew and Edmond Callen were involved in the same drug activities as the others, and their theft apparently set off the decision to kill them. No detailed personal stories or family comments show up in the old court files or news reports from back then.

Strafaci, Skeels, Smith, and the rest faced charges for the double killing and the drug setup. Strafaci pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and the drug count, taking life plus 10 years to run together. The others entered similar pleas and got matching sentences.

The cases wrapped up quickly with guilty pleas instead of drawn-out trials. In the years afterward the men filed appeals under Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 37, complaining about problems like missing factual details at the original hearings, weak lawyering, pressure to plead, and confusion over parole rules.

During Strafaci's Rule 37 hearing the state used his own sworn statement that spelled out the shootings, the planning with Skeels, the burial, and where he tossed the gun. The Arkansas Supreme Court decided in 1989 that this later evidence filled in what was needed for the plea, even if the first hearing had fallen short on procedure.

Skeels and Smith brought up similar gripes about their lawyers and coercion, but the courts mostly turned them down and highlighted how deeply Skeels appeared to drive the whole thing.

Strafaci has stayed locked up since April 18, 1984. Now 67, he holds a C4 custody level and I-A good time class with life on the books.

Skeels and Smith drew life sentences too but no longer show up in Arkansas prison records Terry Miller mainly helped with the burial and left no record of a long sentence. Clay Holcomb testified but avoided murder convictions himself

. That leaves Strafaci as the only one from the group still behind bars.