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Don Henry & Kevin Ives

Two teenagers found dead on railroad tracks in Alexander, Arkansas, in what authorities initially called a marijuana-induced accident -- until a second autopsy revealed one had been stabbed in the back and the other's skull had been crushed.

FieldDetails
Full NameDon Henry
BornSeptember 30, 1970
DiedAugust 23, 1987
Age at Death16
Location of DeathRailroad tracks, Alexander, Arkansas
Cause of DeathStab wound to the back; struck by train post-mortem
Official RulingInitially accidental; later ruled definite homicide
CategoryWitness / Victim
FieldDetails
Full NameKevin Ives
BornApril 28, 1970
DiedAugust 23, 1987
Age at Death17
Location of DeathRailroad tracks, Alexander, Arkansas
Cause of DeathCrushed skull; struck by train post-mortem
Official RulingInitially accidental; later ruled definite homicide
CategoryWitness / Victim

Video Evidence​

Summary of the Kevin Ives and Don Henry case, the Mena CIA cocaine operation, and the Barry Seal connection. Source: @TheShadowIntelX on X, April 14, 2026.

Assessment: HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS​

Don Henry and Kevin Ives were found dead on the Union Pacific railroad tracks near Alexander, Arkansas on August 23, 1987. The state medical examiner ruled their deaths accidental, claiming the boys had smoked twenty marijuana cigarettes and fallen asleep on the tracks. A second autopsy demolished that finding: Henry had a five-inch stab wound in his back, and Ives's skull had been crushed before the train struck them. A grand jury subsequently ruled the deaths "definite homicide." The case has never been solved, and at least six witnesses connected to the investigation died under suspicious circumstances in the years that followed.

Circumstances of Death​

On the night of August 22, 1987, Don Henry and Kevin Ives went out "spotlighting" -- an illegal form of night hunting where one person shines a light to stun deer while the other shoots. They were carrying Don's .22 caliber rifle and a spotlight borrowed from his father. Don left his home around 12:15 a.m. and headed for the railroad tracks behind his house.

At approximately 4:25 a.m. on August 23, a 6,000-ton Union Pacific freight train traveling at 52 miles per hour encountered the two boys lying motionless on the tracks. Train engineer Stephen Shroyer reported that he laid on the diesel horn but received "no reaction, none at all, not so much as a flinch." The train could not stop in time. All four members of the train crew reported that the boys were partially covered by a light green tarp. Neither boy owned such a tarp. Don's .22 rifle lay parallel to both bodies on the tracks.

The tarp was never recovered. Police later denied the engineer had mentioned it.

The Medical Examiner Controversy​

Arkansas State Medical Examiner Dr. Fahmy Malak ruled the deaths accidental, claiming the boys had smoked the equivalent of twenty marijuana cigarettes and fallen unconscious on the tracks. This ruling was immediately challenged by the boys' families.

A second autopsy commissioned by the families and conducted by Atlanta medical examiner Dr. Joseph Burton found:

  • Don Henry had a five-inch-deep stab wound in his back
  • Kevin Ives's skull had been crushed prior to being struck by the train
  • A pattern wound on Kevin's left cheek matched the size and shape of Don's rifle butt, suggesting he had been struck with it
  • The boys had consumed the equivalent of only one to three marijuana cigarettes -- far less than the twenty claimed by Malak

Based on these findings, a grand jury changed the ruling from "probable homicide" to "definite homicide."

Dr. Malak's competence came under widespread scrutiny. According to Mara Leveritt's reporting, Malak had a pattern of questionable rulings in cases with political implications. He was eventually removed from his position, though not before Governor Bill Clinton's office intervened to keep him in the role for years despite mounting criticism.

Background​

Don Henry and Kevin Ives were ordinary teenagers from Saline County, Arkansas. They were best friends who spent time hunting and exploring the rural area around Alexander, a small community south of Little Rock. There was nothing in their backgrounds to suggest involvement in criminal activity.

The area where they died, however, was not ordinary. The railroad tracks near Alexander ran through terrain that multiple sources have linked to drug trafficking operations connected to the Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport in nearby Polk County. During the 1980s, the Mena airport served as a base for CIA-connected cocaine importation, a fact documented in federal court proceedings and later confirmed by multiple investigations. The proximity of the boys' death site to known drug drop zones led investigators and journalists to theorize that Henry and Ives may have accidentally witnessed a drug drop that night.

The Witness Deaths​

Following the grand jury investigation, multiple witnesses connected to the case died under suspicious circumstances. According to reports compiled by the families and investigators:

  • Keith McKaskle (November 1988) -- Stabbed 113 times after meeting with prosecutor Richard Garrett. He had told friends and family he knew he was going to be killed.
  • Keith Coney (January 1989) -- Died in a motorcycle chase. Circumstances disputed.
  • Gregory Collins (January 26, 1989) -- Shot in the head with a shotgun. He had been scheduled to testify before the grand jury.
  • Jeff Rhodes (April 1989) -- Body found in a landfill. He had been shot, his body burned.
  • Daniel "Boonie" Bearden (March 1989) -- Disappeared without a trace.
  • Jordan Kettleson (1990) -- Found shot to death in the back of his pickup truck.
  • Richard Winters -- Shot and killed while serving as a key witness.

Within six months of a 1988 Unsolved Mysteries broadcast on the case, five witnesses who had either spoken with the prosecutor or were scheduled to testify were dead.

The Mena Connection​

The boys' deaths have been persistently linked to drug trafficking operations at the Mena airport. Key elements of the connection, as documented by journalist Mara Leveritt and others:

  • CIA-connected drug smuggling operations ran out of Mena during the 1980s, importing cocaine as part of operations linked to Iran-Contra
  • Drug drops were reportedly made in rural areas of Saline County, including near the railroad tracks where the boys were found
  • The theory holds that Henry and Ives stumbled upon a drug drop in progress and were killed to prevent them from reporting what they saw
  • A man in military fatigues was spotted near the tracks one week before the murders and again on the night of the deaths; when approached by a police officer, the man opened fire and escaped
  • No direct, court-documented link between the boys' deaths and Mena operations has been established, though circumstantial connections remain the subject of ongoing investigation

Whitney Webb's One Nation Under Blackmail places the Mena operations within a broader context of intelligence-linked criminal enterprises that connect to the Epstein network through shared patterns of government protection of illegal activity.

Why This Death Possibly Raises Questions​

  • The state medical examiner's initial ruling of accidental death was contradicted by a second autopsy showing clear evidence of homicide -- a stab wound and a crushed skull
  • Dr. Fahmy Malak's claim that the boys smoked twenty marijuana cigarettes was contradicted by toxicology showing one to three cigarettes
  • A green tarp covered the boys' bodies on the tracks, yet this tarp was never recovered and police denied its existence despite testimony from all four train crew members
  • At least six witnesses connected to the grand jury investigation died violently within two years
  • The death site was in an area linked to CIA drug trafficking operations through the Mena airport
  • Dr. Malak retained his position for years despite mounting evidence of incompetence, reportedly with support from Governor Clinton's office
  • The case was officially closed in 1995 without resolution

The Counterargument​

  • No direct evidence has been produced in court linking the boys' deaths to Mena airport drug operations or the CIA
  • The boys were engaged in illegal night hunting, an activity that could have brought them into conflict with other individuals in the area for reasons unrelated to drug trafficking
  • Dr. Malak's incompetence may have been genuine rather than politically motivated -- he made questionable rulings in many cases
  • The witness deaths, while numerous and suspicious, have not been conclusively linked to a single conspiracy
  • The grand jury was unable to identify the killers despite years of investigation
  • In February 2018, former wrestler Billy Jack Haynes came forward claiming to have witnessed the murders while providing security for a drug drop, but his credibility has been questioned

Key Quotes from Media Coverage​

"From the time that we had placed the train into an emergency position...I would estimate about three to five seconds to impact. I started lying down on the diesel horn. And I got no reaction, none at all, not so much as a flinch."

-- Stephen Shroyer, Union Pacific train engineer, describing the moments before impact (Unsolved Mysteries)

"Well I couldn't believe that Kevin was knocked out on marijuana...because I was at home a lot during the day, when Kevin come in from school and Linda was here at night and we'd never seen him in a state."

-- Larry Ives, Kevin's father, on the medical examiner's marijuana claim (Unsolved Mysteries)

"And he came in at approximately 12:15, and told me where he was going and everything. I told him just to be careful and he took one of my spotlights with him and took his .22."

-- Curtis Henry, Don's father, on the last time he saw his son alive (Unsolved Mysteries)

See Also​

  • Danny Casolaro -- Investigating PROMIS software and intelligence-linked criminal networks; found dead in 1991. Both cases involve alleged government protection of criminal enterprises.
  • Gary Caradori -- Private investigator for the Franklin scandal whose plane disintegrated mid-air in 1990. Both cases feature witnesses who died before they could testify.
  • Linda Collins-Smith -- Arkansas state senator investigating child trafficking; murdered in 2019. Another Arkansas case where an individual pursuing trafficking-related investigations was killed.
  • Jeffrey Epstein -- The broader pattern of intelligence-protected criminal enterprises that Whitney Webb documents as connecting Mena, the Franklin scandal, and Epstein's operation.
  • Ashley Haynes -- Yoga teacher found drowned in Arkansas River with a 58-pound concrete block tied to her ankle; another suspicious death in Arkansas ruled suicide
  • CIA / Mena Airport Drug Operations -- The drug trafficking operations that the boys may have inadvertently witnessed
  • Iran-Contra -- The broader covert operations network that included drug importation through Mena
  • Alexander, Arkansas -- The railroad tracks where the boys were found dead
  • Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport -- The base for CIA drug smuggling operations in western Arkansas

Sources​

This information was built by Grok and Claude AI research.

Status: Deceased (1987)

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