Sydney Sutherland and the man who joined the search
Half the county walked the fields looking for a young nurse who went out for a run. One of the volunteers already knew where she was.
- When
- August 19 to 21, 2020
- Where
- Near Newport, Jackson County, Arkansas
- Status
- Convicted
Content note murder, sexual assault mentioned without detail. No graphic images.
In brief
Sydney Sutherland, a 25-year-old nurse at a hospital in Newport, Arkansas, left home for a run on a rural road on the afternoon of August 19, 2020, and did not come back. Police, federal agencies and volunteers searched the farmland around Newport. Her phone was found near the road the next day, and her body was found buried on farmland north of her home on August 21. That day Quake Lewellyn, 28, a local farmer who had joined the search effort, went to Arkansas State Police with his father and confessed. In October 2021 he pleaded guilty to capital murder and rape and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Turning pointTwo days after she vanished, Lewellyn walked into Arkansas State Police headquarters in Newport with his father and admitted he was involved.
- Victim
- Sydney Sutherland, 25, a nurse at Unity Health Harris Medical Center in Newport
- Convicted
- Quake Lewellyn, 28 at the time, a farmer who knew her from high school
- Where
- Rural roads and farmland near Newport, Jackson County, Arkansas
- Missing
- Afternoon of August 19, 2020, while jogging
- Found
- August 21, 2020, buried on farmland north of her home
- Sentence
- Life without parole, October 1, 2021, after a guilty plea
Watch the episode
The Searcher Who Knew: Sydney Sutherland
Watch on YouTubeTimeline
August 19, 2020Afternoon
Sydney leaves home for a jog on a rural road near Newport. A UPS driver is the last person known to see her. Her boyfriend searches the route when she does not return, and she is reported missing that evening.
August 20, 2020
Her cellphone is found near the road, about a quarter mile from her home. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office, Arkansas State Police, the FBI and U.S. Marshals join a search across fields and ditches, with volunteers.
August 20, 2020
Quake Lewellyn joins the volunteer search effort and a Facebook group organized to find her.
August 21, 2020
Her body is found buried on farmland north of her home. The State Medical Examiner later rules her death a homicide caused by multiple blunt force injuries.
August 21, 2020
Lewellyn goes to Arkansas State Police headquarters in Newport with his father and admits involvement. According to an affidavit, he says he struck Sydney with his pickup truck, then raped her and buried her in a rice field. He is arrested.
February 2021
Lewellyn is found competent to stand trial.
October 1, 2021
Lewellyn pleads guilty to capital murder and rape in exchange for prosecutors dropping kidnapping and abuse of a corpse charges and not seeking the death penalty. He is sentenced to life without parole.
The full story
What happened
Sydney Sutherland was 25 and worked as a nurse at Unity Health Harris Medical Center in Newport, Arkansas. On the afternoon of August 19, 2020, she went out for a run on a country road near her home. A UPS driver saw her. After that, no one did.
When she did not come back, her boyfriend drove the route looking for her, and she was reported missing that evening. By the next day the search had grown to include the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Arkansas State Police, the FBI and U.S. Marshals, along with volunteers walking ditches and fields. Her phone turned up near the road, about a quarter mile from her house.
Among the people who joined the effort to find her was Quake Lewellyn, 28, a farmer who had gone to the same high school as Sydney. He also joined a Facebook group set up to help find her.
The confession
On August 21, searchers found Sydney’s body buried on farmland north of her home. The State Medical Examiner later found she died of multiple blunt force injuries.
The same day, Lewellyn walked into Arkansas State Police headquarters in Newport with his father and admitted he was involved. According to the arrest affidavit, he told investigators he hit Sydney with his pickup truck, then raped her and buried her in a rice field. He was arrested and charged with capital murder, rape, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse.
The plea
Lewellyn’s lawyers sought a mental evaluation, and in February 2021 he was found competent to stand trial. On October 1, 2021, in a Jackson County courtroom, he changed his plea to guilty on the capital murder and rape charges. Prosecutors dropped the kidnapping and abuse of a corpse counts and agreed not to seek the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The courtroom was full of pink, Sydney’s favorite color. Her mother, Maggy, told Lewellyn her daughter was not his to take. Arkansas State University later created a scholarship in Sydney’s name.
What the video couldn't include
They went to the same high school
Lewellyn and Sydney both grew up around Tuckerman and went to the same high school. According to the arrest affidavit, she had recently unfriended him on Facebook.
He searched with them
Lewellyn joined the volunteers and an online group formed to find her, while investigators say he knew what had happened to her.
The courtroom was pink
Pink was Sydney's favorite color, and her family and supporters filled the courtroom in it at his sentencing.
Her parents spoke to him directly
At sentencing her mother, Maggy Sutherland, told Lewellyn that Sydney was not his to take. Her father called him a coward who hit his daughter with a truck.
A scholarship in her name
Arkansas State University created a scholarship in Sydney's memory.
The video and the record
The episode tells this case in about 2 minutes with illustrated recreations. Here is how its key moments line up with what is documented.
One of the men helping them already knew exactly where she was
Documented
Lewellyn joined the search effort before he confessed, according to law enforcement and reporting.
By the next day the countryside was filled with people looking for her
Documented
Law enforcement agencies and volunteers searched the area after she was reported missing.
He struck her with his pickup, drove her several miles away, sexually assaulted her and buried her
Documented
This is his confession as relayed by investigators in the affidavit. He later pleaded guilty to capital murder and rape.
Then he returned to his normal routine, and joined the search
Compressed
Both are reported, but the exact order of his movements after the killing is taken from his own account and not independently established in our sources.
Her family filled the courtroom wearing pink
Documented
Pink was her favorite color.
The road, the fields, the search line
Reconstruction
AI-generated illustrations. No real photographs are used.
What the four marks mean
- Documented
- Shown as it is recorded in court filings, police statements, or consistent reporting.
- Reconstruction
- A reasonable visual recreation of a documented event. The event happened; the image is illustrative.
- Compressed
- Real events shortened, merged, or reordered to fit the runtime.
- Dramatized
- A storytelling choice (framing, wording, emphasis) that the record does not establish.
Sources
- [1]KAIT8“Lewellyn pleads guilty in Sydney Sutherland murder”
- [2]KATV“Quake Lewellyn pleads guilty to murder, rape in Sydney Sutherland case”
- [3]KATV“Man arrested for murdering Sydney Sutherland was part of her search party”
- [4]UA Little Rock Public Radio / Associated Press“Arkansas man pleads guilty to killing jogger, gets life sentence”
- [5]The Independent“Farmer jailed for murdering missing nurse after he joined search to find her”
- [6]Law & Crime“Cause of Sydney Sutherland's Death Released”
- [7]Oxygen“Quake Lewellyn Gets Life In Prison For Sydney Sutherland Slaying”
- [8]Coalition for the Murdered and Missing“The Murder of Sydney Sutherland”
SourcedFacts in this file come from the reporting listed above. Some details are still waiting on primary records. Last reviewed September 12, 2026. How we check cases
