Authorities say a dispute over stolen tools and money led to the killing of Richard Lease in Logan County.

BOONEVILLE, Ark. — A 68-year-old Arkansas man is accused of killing his stepson inside the home they shared south of Booneville after an argument on Jan. 7, with investigators saying the older man went to the victim’s bedroom and opened fire with a rifle.

John E. Rich III has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 38-year-old Richard Lease, according to law enforcement accounts and court reporting. The case drew attention because investigators say the shooting followed a household dispute, not a break-in or street encounter, and because Rich allegedly told officers he was fed up with Lease over missing tools and money. The immediate stakes are now legal as prosecutors move the homicide case forward and Lease’s family continues to mourn his death.

According to the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called the night of Jan. 7 to a residence on State Highway 23 south of Booneville after a 911 caller reported that someone had been shot. Deputies asked Booneville and Magazine police for backup before entering the home. Inside, officers found Lease dead in a bedroom with several gunshot wounds. Authorities took Rich, who also lived at the residence, into custody without incident and recovered a rifle at the scene. Court reporting reviewed by Law&Crime said the shooting came after a verbal altercation earlier that day. Investigators alleged Lease had retreated to his bedroom when the confrontation ended. Rich then got an AK-style rifle, went to the bedroom door and fired several rounds, according to that account. The sheriff’s office did not describe a struggle at the moment officers arrived, and no injuries to deputies or other people at the home were reported.

The statements attributed to Rich became a central detail in the early case record. Law&Crime, citing court documents, reported that Rich told investigators he was tired of Lease stealing tools and money from him and that he was just wanting him out of the house. Police said Rich admitted he went into the bedroom with a loaded rifle and shot Lease multiple times. Sheriff’s officials said only that there had been a conflict between the two men, who were stepfather and stepson and lived in the same residence. Officers recovered the weapon after the shooting, and the Logan County coroner took custody of Lease’s body after investigators processed the home. The remains were sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory. Authorities have not publicly detailed how many shots were fired, whether anyone else witnessed the shooting, or who placed the 911 call. They also have not publicly described any prior police runs to the property tied to the dispute.

The public record offers a picture of the victim beyond the brief details in the charging story. Lease’s obituary says he was born April 18, 1987, in Glendale, California, and died Jan. 7, 2026, at age 38. It describes him as a contractor who enjoyed hunting, fishing and the outdoors, and says he attended church in Booneville and Vian, Oklahoma. The obituary also lists four children, a fiancée and several siblings and relatives. Funeral services were held Jan. 17 in Vian, followed by burial there. That context does not change the criminal allegations, but it helps explain the wider impact of the shooting on a family spread across western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. Booneville is a small city in western Arkansas, and cases involving relatives living under one roof often leave both investigators and mourners working through the same close local networks.

Rich was booked into the Logan County Detention Center in the early hours of Jan. 8 on a first-degree murder allegation, according to the sheriff’s office roster. Officials said he was held on a $1 million bond. Law&Crime reported that Rich had been formally charged and was scheduled to be arraigned March 6. At this stage, first-degree murder charges in Arkansas generally move next through arraignment, appointment or confirmation of counsel, discovery exchanges and later court settings that can include motion hearings or a trial date. Investigators from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office worked with the Arkansas State Police on the case, and evidence collected at the home is likely to remain important as prosecutors and the defense test the sequence of events. Authorities have not publicly announced any lesser or additional charges tied to the weapon, and no public claim of self-defense has been described in the reporting reviewed for this story.

The scene that emerges from the public accounts is stark and domestic. A house along a highway south of town became a homicide scene after what authorities described as a family conflict. Sheriff Jason Massey said in the agency’s release that officers found Lease in a bedroom with several gunshot wounds, a detail that fixed the encounter in a private space where Lease had apparently withdrawn after the argument. Lease’s obituary paints him as a working man rooted in family, church and outdoor life, while the charging account centers on a bitter dispute inside the home. Those two versions of the same address now sit side by side in the public record. In the courthouse, the case will turn on evidence, witness accounts and forensic findings. Outside court, it is already remembered as the night a family argument in rural Logan County ended in a killing.

Rich remained jailed on a $1 million bond in the public reports reviewed for this story, and the next known milestone was the March 6 arraignment setting. The homicide case now moves on the court calendar while investigators and lawyers sort out the evidence collected from the Booneville area home.

Author note: Last updated March 30, 2026.