Police say investigators found physical evidence outside an Exeter home before Aaron Malone led them to Aspen Lewis’ body.
EXETER, Mo. — The investigation into Aspen Lewis’ death turned on what deputies found outside her home: blood behind Aaron Malone’s truck, scattered jewelry in disturbed gravel and surveillance video that captured screams before the vehicle left during the night.
Those discoveries undermined Malone’s claim that Lewis was missing and might have been abducted. They also gave investigators a path from a reported disappearance to a wooded recovery site near Shell Knob. A Jasper County jury later convicted Malone of first-degree murder and three related felonies, and a judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Barry County deputies arrived at the Exeter residence after a possible abduction was reported Nov. 25, 2024. Malone met with officers and said Lewis could not be found. He supplied both a spoken account and a written statement suggesting that someone had taken her. At that moment, the report directed attention toward an unknown person and an unknown destination. Investigators had not yet located Lewis, and the information provided by Malone placed him in the role of the person seeking help. Sheriff Danny Boyd later said detectives began finding inconsistencies as they compared his account with the scene.
The first major contradiction was visible near the truck. Detective Abby Parsons reported seeing a large bloodstain in the roadway behind the vehicle. Blood also appeared on the truck itself. Investigators noticed that parts of the gravel driveway had been disturbed, and they found pieces of jewelry on the ground. A sample collected at the scene was confirmed to be human blood. None of those findings alone explained every event of the night. Together, however, they showed that the residence contained evidence of violence that Malone had not explained through his claim of a possible abduction.
The scene evidence also gave officers several different records to preserve. Blood could be photographed, sampled and tested. The truck could be examined for stains and possible transfer evidence. The gravel could be documented for signs of movement or struggle. The jewelry could be collected and compared with Lewis’ belongings. Public reports do not disclose the full laboratory results or identify each item shown to jurors, but the probable cause statement makes clear that the physical condition of the property changed the direction of the investigation.
Surveillance footage supplied the next contradiction. The recording showed Malone’s truck arriving at about 11:35 p.m. Nov. 24. Screaming could be heard soon afterward. At about 1:35 a.m. Nov. 25, the truck left the residence. It returned at about 4:10 a.m. Malone placed a 911 call before coming back. The video did not simply show that the vehicle had moved. It placed the truck away from the home for about two hours and 35 minutes during the period when Lewis disappeared and before Malone presented his account to authorities.
The combination of evidence narrowed the questions investigators needed to answer. They had a residence where human blood was found, a vehicle with additional blood, a recording that captured screams and a late-night trip by the same truck. They also had a person reporting an abduction before returning to the scene. Authorities began examining where Malone had gone and whether he knew Lewis’ location. The public record does not state whether officers tracked the truck electronically or followed tire evidence, because Malone ultimately provided the location himself.
Boyd and Maj. Angela Cole met with Malone and told him they wanted to find Lewis. He said he would take them to her. Malone directed officers to a rural Barry County road near Shell Knob. As investigators reached the area, they saw the burned remains of a pink wool garment in the roadway. Lewis’ body was off the road in the woods, covered with leaves and sticks. Authorities reported extensive trauma to her head. The discovery ended the search for a living missing person and confirmed that investigators were dealing with a homicide and an effort to conceal the body.
Malone’s knowledge of the recovery site became another direct conflict with his original report. After receiving a Miranda warning, he admitted that an altercation had occurred and that he had disposed of Lewis’ body, according to the probable cause statement. The released account does not include his full interview or describe every explanation he offered. It records two central admissions: that there had been a confrontation and that Malone had taken responsibility for leaving the body where investigators found it.
The medical and trial evidence later expanded the case beyond the head trauma described at the recovery scene. Barry County Prosecutor Amy Boxx said Malone struck Lewis in the head multiple times, strangled her and shot her in the head. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office similarly said prosecutors proved that Malone repeatedly assaulted Lewis in the face, strangled her and shot her before leaving her body in the woods. Those details gave jurors evidence about the manner of death and supported the state’s argument that the killing was deliberate.
The concealment evidence supported charges separate from murder. Prosecutors accused Malone of abandoning a corpse because he transported Lewis from the residence and left her in a rural wooded area. They charged him with tampering with physical evidence because of conduct intended to hide or alter evidence connected to the crime. The burned garment, the covering of leaves and sticks and the false abduction account formed parts of the broader concealment narrative described in public records. Armed criminal action addressed the weapon used during the killing.
Malone initially faced second-degree murder and the two concealment-related charges after his arrest. The case later proceeded on first-degree murder, armed criminal action, abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. That progression mattered because first-degree murder required proof that Malone caused Lewis’ death after deliberation. The jury had to decide not only whether he killed her but whether the state had proved the mental state required for the most serious homicide charge.
The trial took place April 14 through April 16, 2026, in Jasper County after a change of venue from Barry County. Prosecutors presented the investigation to jurors through physical evidence, the surveillance timeline, Malone’s statements, the body-recovery evidence and testimony about Lewis’ injuries. Public accounts do not provide a witness-by-witness summary or disclose the defense’s full explanation for the scene. Jurors deliberated for about an hour before returning guilty verdicts on all four counts.
Barry County Prosecutor Amy Boxx handled the case with Assistant Attorneys General Melissa Pierce and Michael Schafer. The Barry County Sheriff’s Office led the investigation, with assistance from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Criminal Investigations Unit. The state Attorney General’s Office also identified investigators David Southard and James Tharp, victim advocate Kara Lindhorst and paralegal Jay Turner as members of the prosecution team. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said the joint effort delivered justice for Lewis’ family.
Before sentencing, Malone asked for a new trial. Judge David Allen Cole rejected the motion, finding no legal cause to withhold judgment. Cole then imposed life without parole for first-degree murder and three years each for armed criminal action, abandonment of a corpse and evidence tampering. The three shorter terms run concurrently with the life sentence. Malone was transferred from the Barry County Jail to the Missouri Department of Corrections on June 12.
The public record leaves some questions unanswered. It does not provide the full contents of Malone’s written abduction statement, identify the exact source of every bloodstain or explain what happened in the minutes before the screaming began. It also does not state what argument preceded the violence. Those unknowns did not prevent jurors from reaching a verdict because the state’s case joined several independent forms of evidence that pointed back to the Exeter residence and Malone’s truck.
Malone’s first account framed Lewis as a possible victim of an unknown abductor. The physical scene told investigators that violence had occurred close to him. The video established a period when his truck was gone. His directions led police to the body. His later admission connected him to its disposal. By the time the case reached trial, the disappearance report had become evidence within the prosecution’s account of concealment.
Malone is now serving a sentence that provides no possibility of parole. No completed appellate ruling had been reported as of the latest update, leaving the four convictions and the life sentence in force.
Author note: Last updated July 12, 2026.