Snapped on Oxygen: How did Linda Jo Stingley die?

The disappearance and ghastly killing of 65-year-old Linda Jo Stingley remains one of the strangest cases that the state of Arkansas has ever seen.

Trigger warning: This article contains details of a murder that may not be suitable for certain readers. Discretion is advised.

Stingley, a single mother-of-five, disappeared from her home in June 2014, triggering a missing person investigation to find the loving and caring Batesville nurse. Her daughter Jerrie Lynn Acklin was later arrested in connection with Linda's disappearance and murder.

Acklin eventually confessed to beating her 65-year-old mother repeatedly using a carjack before stabbing her multiple times with a kitchen knife. She also led authorities to Stingley's remains.

An upcoming Snapped episode titled Jerrie Lynn Acklin will air on Oxygen at 7 pm ET on Friday, March 10, 2022, and will chronicle Linda Jo Stingley's murder case. The synopsis of the episode states:

"The mysterious disappearance of a beloved nurse leads Arkansas investigators down a twisted path of familial betrayal; as detectives hunt for the missing woman, evidence upturned along the way points toward deadly foul play."

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Investigators initially suspected the involvement of nurse Linda Jo Stingley's youngest son in her disappearance

Oklahoma native Linda Jo Stingley got married at a young age and was divorced twice at the time of her disappearance.

The nurse, who had five children from her two marriages, worked at Eagle Mountain Assisted Living Center in Batesville, Arkansas, where her family resided.

On June 3, 2014, Stingley's co-workers at Eagle Mountain requested a wellness check at her house when she failed to show up for work. The check was requested because Stingley "never missed work."

At her house, authorities found that her car was still in the driveway, but her purse was missing. However, there were no signs of a struggle or a robbery.

Reports state that one of her neighbors informed cops about a series of burglaries in the area. The neighbor also claimed to have spotted a suspicious maroon car near Stingley's house.

The license plate, as noted down by that neighbor, reportedly belonged to Jerrie Lynn Acklin, Linda's daughter and a mother-of-one. However, authorities found that Jerri too was untraceable at the time.

During the initial stages of investigating Stingley's missing case, authorities interrogated her youngest son Corey Stingley. Corey had a criminal history and had recently been released from prison. He was soon cleared after providing a solid alibi. He was in jail in another jurisdiction.

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Linda Jo Stingley's second daughter Jerrie Lynn Acklin confessed to fatally beating and stabbing her

Jerrie Lynn Acklin, the second daughter of missing Arkansas woman Linda Jo Stingley, confessed (Image via Oxygen)

Just one day after she was reported missing, authorities from Bryant, Arkansas, reached out to investigators working on Linda Jo Stingley's case after finding her purse in a dumpster.

They then tracked her bank account activity and found that her credit cards were used and discarded in many places. Security camera footage from these locations led authorities to Jerrie Lynn Acklin, Linda's daughter.

Acklin was arrested in a Walmart parking lot in Bryant and initially maintained her innocence. She even claimed that a man she was dating murdered Stingley before she herself confessed to the murder. Acklin admitted to murdering her 65-year-old mother in a fit of rage when "her mother wouldn’t let her stay there, and they got into it."

Reports state that Acklin repeatedly beat Stingley with a carjack before stabbing her multiple times with a kitchen knife. She was charged with first-degree murder and eventually led authorities to her mother's remains in the woods near Malvern, Arkansas. She pleaded guilty in 2015 and was sentenced to 56 years in prison.

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Snapped on Oxygen will air on Friday at 7 pm ET.