Aaron Malone received no possibility of parole after a jury convicted him on four felony counts in Aspen Lewis’ death.

JOPLIN, Mo. — A Missouri judge sentenced Aaron Malone to life in prison without parole for killing his girlfriend, Aspen Lewis, then leaving her body in a wooded area before telling authorities that she was missing and might have been abducted.

The sentence completed the main trial-court phase of a case that began with a report of a disappearance in November 2024. Malone, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. Judge David Allen Cole also imposed three-year prison terms on each of the other counts, ordering them to run at the same time as the life sentence.

Cole pronounced the sentence June 9 after rejecting Malone’s request for a new trial. Court records said the defense had not shown a legal reason to prevent judgment from being entered. Malone remained in the Barry County Jail for several days after sentencing and was released to the Missouri Department of Corrections on June 12 for transportation into the state prison system. The life sentence carries no ordinary opportunity for parole. The shorter sentences do not add time beyond the murder punishment because they run concurrently, but they preserve separate judgments for the weapon offense, the disposal of Lewis’ body and the interference with evidence.

The punishment followed a three-day trial held April 14 through April 16 in Jasper County. The case originated in Barry County but was transferred through a change of venue. A jury deliberated for about an hour before finding Malone guilty on every count. Barry County Prosecutor Amy Boxx said the evidence showed that Malone struck Lewis in the head several times, strangled her and shot her in the head. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office said the attack occurred on the evening of Nov. 24, 2024, before Malone left Lewis’ body in the woods. Lewis was 24. Authorities described her as Malone’s girlfriend, while one local account referred to her as his former girlfriend.

The case did not begin as an openly reported homicide. Barry County deputies went to an Exeter residence after receiving a report of a possible abduction. Malone told them Lewis was missing and provided verbal and written statements suggesting someone might have taken her. Sheriff Danny Boyd later said investigators found inconsistencies in Malone’s account. Those problems became more serious when officers examined the area around Malone’s truck and found evidence indicating that violence had occurred at the residence rather than at an unknown location involving an unknown abductor.

Detective Abby Parsons wrote that a large bloodstain was visible in the roadway behind Malone’s truck. Investigators also saw blood on the truck, disturbed gravel in the driveway and pieces of jewelry on the ground. A sample collected during the investigation was confirmed as human blood. The publicly released record does not identify every test performed or state when each item was collected. It does show that the blood, the jewelry and the condition of the driveway gave investigators evidence that could be compared with Malone’s account of Lewis’ disappearance. The scene suggested a struggle and forced detectives to look closely at the movements of Malone and his vehicle.

Nearby surveillance video helped establish those movements. The recording showed Malone’s truck arriving at the residence at about 11:35 p.m. Nov. 24. Screaming could be heard shortly afterward, according to the probable cause statement. The truck left at about 1:35 a.m. Nov. 25 and returned at about 4:10 a.m. Malone made a 911 call before returning to the home. The footage did not capture every act later described at trial, but it gave investigators fixed times for the truck’s arrival, departure and return. It also provided a record that did not depend on Malone’s changing statements.

Investigators confronted Malone with questions about the blood and the surveillance evidence. Boyd and Maj. Angela Cole told him they wanted to locate Lewis. Malone then said he would take them to her. He directed authorities to a rural road in Barry County near Shell Knob. Officers found the remains of a burned pink wool garment in the roadway. Lewis’ body was located off the road in a wooded area, covered with leaves and sticks. Investigators reported that she had extensive head trauma. The released documents do not state how far the body was from the road or provide a full description of the recovery scene.

After officers advised Malone of his rights, he admitted that an altercation had occurred and that he had disposed of Lewis’ body, according to the probable cause statement. That admission directly connected him to the location where she was found. It also contradicted the earlier suggestion that an unidentified person had abducted her. Prosecutors later presented a more detailed account of the killing, saying Malone repeatedly assaulted Lewis in the face, strangled her and shot her before transporting her body away from Exeter. The public summaries do not identify the precise order of all three forms of violence or explain what Malone said had started the confrontation.

The charges changed as the case moved forward. Malone was initially accused of second-degree murder, abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. By the time of trial, prosecutors pursued first-degree murder and armed criminal action in addition to the two concealment-related counts. The first-degree murder charge required the state to prove that Malone knowingly caused Lewis’ death after deliberation. Jurors accepted that allegation, along with the state’s claims that he committed the crime with a weapon, abandoned the body and tampered with evidence after the killing.

The prosecution combined local and state resources. Boxx tried the case with Assistant Attorneys General Melissa Pierce and Michael Schafer. The Barry County Sheriff’s Office led the investigation with help from the Missouri State Highway Patrol Criminal Investigations Unit. The Attorney General’s Office also credited investigators David Southard and James Tharp, victim advocate Kara Lindhorst and paralegal Jay Turner for their work. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said the cooperation helped deliver justice for Lewis’ family and showed how the state could support local prosecutors in serious cases.

The change of venue placed the trial before a Jasper County jury even though the killing, the initial police response and the recovery of Lewis’ body occurred in Barry County. Public reports do not give the specific arguments that led to the transfer. Cole presided over the trial and later handled the sentencing. After the April verdict, Malone was ordered held without bond and returned to the custody of the Barry County Sheriff’s Office while the court prepared a sentencing assessment and considered post-trial motions.

No complete trial transcript has been made available through the public reports describing the case. As a result, the summaries do not identify every witness, every exhibit or the defense theory presented to jurors. They also do not explain whether Malone testified. The available record instead centers on the physical evidence outside the Exeter residence, the surveillance timeline, the location of the body, Malone’s statements and the medical evidence describing repeated injuries to Lewis’ head and neck.

Malone also faces a separate third-degree assault allegation tied to an incident in the Barry County Jail. Authorities allege that he shoved another person, causing the person to fall and strike his head on a metal stool. The person suffered a cut and received medical care. That accusation is not part of the Lewis murder judgment, and the available reports do not show a final resolution of the assault case. It remains separate from the four convictions that resulted in Malone’s life sentence.

The June sentence left no uncertainty about the punishment imposed for Lewis’ murder. Malone entered state custody under a judgment requiring him to spend the rest of his life in prison without parole. Any further challenge would proceed through Missouri’s appellate or post-conviction system, but no final appellate decision had been identified in the public record as of the latest update.

Author note: Last updated July 12, 2026.