Teen-agers Kevin Ives and Don Henry went out to a secluded area of Saline County, Arkansas, for a night of deer hunting. Early the next morning, a northbound Union Pacific train ran over their bodies as they lie sprawled on the tracks. Arkansas State Medical Examiner Fahmy Malak, appointed by Gov. Bill Clinton, quickly ruled the boys’ deaths “accidental,” saying they were unconscious or in a deep sleep as a result of smoking marijuana (in spite of the crime lab never testing for marijuana). That explanation didn’t add up to Kevin’s mother, Linda, who publicly challenged the finding. A local grand jury began investigating, resulting in the bodies being exhumed. Another autopsy revealed that Don Henry had been stabbed in the back and that Kevin Ives had been beaten with a rifle butt. In other words, the kids had been murdered — murdered in an area known as a drop zone for drug smugglers as part of the CIA’s Mena Drug smuggling operation that Gov. Clinton helped conceal and operate.
A number of pieces of evidence collected at the scene eventually turned up missing. Police refused to acknowledge the existence of the gun, even though it’s collection by police was captured on video. Likewise, all three members of the train crew observed a tarp covering the boys’ bodies on the tracks prior to the impact. The conductor even showed investigators where the tarp had landed after the impact. Nevertheless, the police denied the tarp’s existence.
Under public pressure over the official mishandling of the case from the beginning, Gov. Clinton called in two pathologists from out of state to review the work of the medical examiner and state crime lab where the autopsies were conducted. But when the Saline County grand jury tried to subpoena those experts for testimony, Clinton refused to allow it.
One of the local cops subpoenaed by the grand jury was Jay Campbell, now a narcotics officer in Little Rock. But, according to Clinton friend and supporter Dan Lasater, convicted for cocaine dealing in 1986 (and subsequently pardoned by Gov. Clinton), Campbell also flew with him on some private flights suspected of being drug runs.
In 1990, Jean Duffey headed a drug task force in the area and began to piece together evidence connecting narcotics, public officials and the train deaths. Shortly afterward, she was threatened with death and run out of town.
“I didn’t understand the power of the political machine back then, but after being persuaded by the FBI to assist in an investigation they opened in 1994, I learned of connections to the CIA, Mena, and drug-smuggling,” she wrote in a recent letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal. “I finally understood; to solve the train deaths case would be to expose the crimes of Mena, and no government agent who has come close to doing either has survived professionally.”
With that background behind us, let’s take a look at the news in the April 26, 1997, edition of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette: “Two Pulaski County sheriff’s deputies filed suit Wednesday against filmmakers who they said had made a ‘purported documentary’ about the 1987 Saline County deaths of Don Henry and Kevin Ives.
“Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane contend that Citizens for Honest Government Inc., Jeremiah Films Inc. and company President Pat Matrisciana are liable for statements accusing them of crimes.”
Now, how often do you ever hear about police officers or government officials of any kind suing the press for libel. As someone who has spent many years in the business, I can tell you it’s rare. It’s rare for several reasons, but the biggest is the fact that the courts have understood the traditional role the press plays as a watchdog of government. If government officials can successfully sue the press every time they get their feelings hurt, you simply wouldn’t have a free press anymore.
Another big reason you don’t see such suits is the fact that police officers usually don’t have money to throw away on frivolous, groundless, nuisance cases. But apparently that isn’t the case in Arkansas. I wonder why? I wonder where the money’s coming from?
In 1992, The Los Angeles Times tallied more than twenty additional cases where Dr. Malak had falsified evidence and ruled incorrectly. One case involved the murder of Raymond Albright who had been shot five times in the chest with a Colt 45. Incredibly, Malak had ruled suicide.
Another case involved James “Dewey” Milam whose body was found without the head. In this case, Malak ruled the cause of death to be an ulcer. Although Milam’s head had been clearly severed with a knife, Malak claimed the family pooch had bitten off the head, eaten the entire thing, and then regurgitated it. Malak says he tested the dog’s vomit and found traces of Milam’s brain and skull. Unfortunately for Dr. Malak, Milam’s head was later found. Malak, it turns out, had made up the entire story. Media coverage of Malak’s dishonest rulings resulted in a massive public outcry calling for his removal from office, but Gov. Bill Clinton would insist that he stay and gave him a raise!
The Mena operation was set up in the early 1980’s by the notorious drug smuggler, Barry Seal. Facing prison after a drug conviction in Florida, Seal flew to Washington, D.C., where he put together a deal that allowed him to avoid prison by becoming an informant for the government.
As a government informant against drug smugglers, Seal testified he worked for the CIA and the DEA. In one federal court case, he testified that his income from March 1984 to August 1985, was between $700,000 and $800,000. This period was AFTER making his deal with the government.
Seal testified that nearly $600,000 of this came from smuggling drugs while working for – and with the permission of the DEA. In addition to his duties as an informant, Seal was used by CIA operatives to help finance the Nicaraguan Contras. The CIA connection to the Mena operation was undeniable when a cargo plane given to Seal by the CIA was shot down over Nicaragua with a load of weapons.
In spite of the evidence, every investigator who has tried to expose the crimes of Mena has been professionally destroyed, and those involved in drug smuggling operations have received continued protection from state and federal authorities.
BELOW: A 1980’s WWE Pro wrestler has bravely come forward to admit his role in the 1987 unsolved murder of two teenage boys in Saline County, Arkansas. Billy Jack Haynes claims the murder of teenagers Kevin Ives and Don Henry was linked to a cocaine smuggling ring as he implicates a high ranking “criminal Arkansas politician” in the murder and massive cover-up. Could this be credible evidence of the notorious Clinton Body Count?
One day after a special Channel Seven report on “The Boys on the Tracks” case, the man who claims to be a witness appeared on a Little Rock afternoon talk radio program (Air date: February 16th, 2018). Billy Jack Haynes added some new details during his 75-minute interview on KARN. For example, he says he wore a mask the night Kevin Ives and Don Henry were killed. He says a third teenager was with them on a motorcycle…a teen who got away only to die a mysterious death nine months later. And Haynes says he videotaped the train hitting the teens’ bodies.
“I looked down and at full force the butt of the rifle…which I guess was one of the kid’s rifle…Kevin Ives’ rifle…he took the butt and smashed him in the back of the head and killed him instantly,”
“And that was it and that was (name redacted) that done that to him. So now they’re dead…(name redacted) for some reason takes out a knife and plows into the back of the other kid…stabs him in the back…left the knife in…and says I just wanted to make sure he’s dead,” recalls Haynes.
A second autopsy did reveal head trauma to Kevin Ives and stab wounds to Don Henry.
“Everything he says is consistent with all the evidence,” says David Lewis, a Little Rock attorney representing the family of Kevin Ives in a federal lawsuit. “So either he was there or he has done a lot of studying and has a great memory.” As far as his memory…Haynes also shared that he suffers from daily headaches, CTE and other brain trauma from his days as a professional wrestler. When asked if he can corroborate his story Haynes hinted that he may still possess the video he says he shot of the moment the train impacted the boys.
Others in the Ives/Henry case
- James “Dewey” Milam – May 30, 1987. Found decapitated. Dr. Fahmy Malak, the Coroner initially ruled death due to “natural causes” and an ulcer, claiming that the victim’s small dog had eaten his head. Milam’s head later was recovered fully intact from a trash bin several blocks away.
- Keith Coney – July 1988. Died when his motorcycle slammed into the back of a truck.
- Keith McKaskle – November 1988. Owner of a local bar. Stabbed 113 times to death.
- Gregory Collins – January 1989. Died from a gunshot wound.
- Jeff Rhodes – April 1989. He was shot, mutilated and found burned in a trash dump.
- Richard Winters – July 1989. A suspect in the Ives / Henry deaths. He was killed in a set-up robbery.
- Jordan Kettleson – June 1990. Was found shot to death in the front seat of his pickup truck.
