The savage rape and murder of 24-year-old Sydney Sutherland in rural Jackson County, Arkansas, in late August 2020 are the subjects of “Web of Lies: Episode 102.” Two days after she had been reported missing, the police discovered her remains, and hours after the discovery, they had the murderer in custody. Interviews with the victim’s family members and investigators are included in the episode to give viewers a detailed picture of what took place. Here is what we know if you are curious to learn more.
How Did Sydney Sutherland Die?
Sydney Dion Sutherland and Maggy (née Williams) Sutherland welcomed Claire into the world on September 18, 1995 in Jonesboro, Crowley’s Ridge, Arkansas. Along with her two elder brothers, she grew raised on the family farm in Grubbs and graduated from Tuckerman High School in 2014. Sydney was a popular member of the Spanish Club, Beta Club, and Key Club and played softball for the Tuckerman Bulldogs, winning the Outstanding Senior award. She was also active in the Spanish Club, Beta Club, and Key Club.
In July 2018, Sydney graduated from ASU Newport with a licence as a licenced practical nurse (LPN). In December 2019, she earned an RN degree from the University of Arkansas Community College in Batesville. Later, she earned her RN while working at Unity Health Harris Medical Centre in Newport. Sydney was adored by both her patients and her employees because of her kind heart and sincere personality. She cherished working out, shopping, playing with her pets, and listening to audiobooks.
Therefore, it came as a shock when the 24-year-old vanished on August 19, 2020, about 2:30 PM, while out for a jog on a highway between the cities of Grubbs and Newport. The missing woman was last seen by a UPS driver who observed her jogging and strolling along Jackson County Road 41 around 3:00 PM, according to Jackson County Sheriff David Lucas. After 7:00 PM, her relatives alerted the police when she didn’t show up. On August 21, her body was discovered buried in fields. According to medical findings, she had suffered several blunt-force traumas.
Who Killed Sydney Sutherland?
According to reports, Sydney’s family last saw her at her sister-in-law Summer Sutherland’s house about 1:00 PM, just before she left for a run. “We have a confirmed sighting around 2:30 to 3:00 PM,” Sheriff David Lucas said. She was exercising and walking on foot. However, even after 7:00 PM, Sydney’s absence from the house she shared with her boyfriend, Alex Nicholson, worried the family. Summer uploaded a picture on Facebook pleading for assistance while he called the police and reported her missing.
Law enforcement officers from the local, state, and federal levels started searching the area where the nurse practitioner was last seen. Sydney’s actions on the afternoon of her disappearance were discovered by the authorities using information from her Apple Watch and mobile. The following day, on August 20, they located her cell phone around a quarter-mile from her residence. Moreover, during the three-day search expedition, hundreds of community volunteers joined the search and assisted law enforcement in looking for Sydney.
Around 2:00 PM on August 21, the extensive search came to a tragic end when they discovered the body of the 24-year-old buried in farmland in rural Jackson County. The state crime lab employed DNA testing to positively identify Sydney as the corpse’s identity. Reports claim that the “Fog Reveal” mobile monitoring app was employed by the authorities to solve the murder. When they discovered the missing woman’s phone in a field along Jackson 41 Road South on 20 August, according to police sources, they had little to go on.
Kevin Metcalf, the chief of the National Child Protection Task Force and a prosecutor in Fayetteville, asserted that he gave the US Marshals Service access to the phone tracking programme for his office. The technology was utilised by the investigators to identify what other gadgets were in the area when Sydney was killed. Kevin stated that on August 21, the day the body was discovered, “Fog Reveal” had assisted police in apprehending a farmer named Quake Lewellyn. In the course of the investigation, the episode described his attempt to allay suspicions by approaching the police on his own.
Quake joined a Facebook page devoted to finding Sydney and claimed to be a member of the search party. He also told the authorities that he was the last person to see Sydney alive. Quake and Sydney, according to Sheriff David Lucas, knew one another because they went to Tuckerman High School three years apart. Within hours of the body’s discovery, he was detained on charges of kidnapping, raping, and murdering the missing jogger. On the other hand, the Jonesboro farmer claimed that on August 19, he was driving his pickup truck around inspecting wells and rice fields.
Sydney was allegedly overtaken by Quake as he was jogging, but he afterwards made the decision to turn around and head back. He said that the dust prevented him from seeing the 24-year-old, so he knocked her over by accident. He claimed he panicked because he thought the collision had killed Sydney, dug her up, and “tried to forget about it.” Quake said this after his psychological assessment: “I knew I didn’t kill her on purpose. I was now terrified that I would get into trouble for driving her over. From this point on, though, his and the police’s versions of what happened were different.
Authorities claimed that Quake had allegedly dragged Sydney into the back of his vehicle, taken her about three miles away, raped her, and then killed her during his probable cause hearing in August 2020. Quake asserted that after hitting Sydney “accidentally,” he got out and went to see how she was doing. He thought she was dead when he didn’t hear back. He claimed to have driven to the rice field he had been headed for and dug a grave after concealing the body on the pickup truck’s tailboard. His supposed admissions start to get scarier at this point.
Where is Quake Lewellyn Now?
“Quake indicated that he removed Sydney’s clothing “and tried toying with her a little,” the psychologist wrote. The solicitors present urged him not to further discuss this when he was asked to define what he meant by “messing with her.” According to the probable cause affidavit, he confessed to police that he “took off Sydney’s shorts and raped her, then buried her at that location.” According to court documents, Quake was accused of killing the victim in 2020 and was also charged with rape, kidnapping, and mistreatment of a corpse. According to the prosecution, they would seek the death penalty.
However, Quake entered a plea agreement in October 2021, where he pleaded guilty to capital murder and rape, preventing the matter from going to trial. Sydney’s mother, Maggie Sutherland, stated in her victim impact statement, “What you took from us 408 days ago, we’ll never get again. Was it worth it, really? I take delight in knowing that you will be referred to going ahead as a number without a name, she continued. Quake was given an unconditional life sentence by the judge. The murderer, age 31, is housed in Lincoln County’s Varner Supermax Unit.
