Blewett pleads guilty, sentenced for 2025 killing

Published 1:05 pm Wednesday, August 19, 2026

BERRYVILLE – On Wednesday, Aug. 12, Thomas Blewett pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and two counts of tampering in the July 2025 death of Alexzander Bernhardt. The judge heard witness impact statements from Bernhardt’s aunt, grandmother and mother. Immediately following the hearing, Blewett was taken into custody to begin his sentence with the Department of Corrections.

Blewett was accused of shooting Bernhardt in the head while the two were riding in the back of a vehicle. Blewett then allegedly dumped Bernhardt’s body and tried to clean the blood from the vehicle before hiding it.

After repeatedly confirming that Blewett understood his rights and had decided to plead guilty, Judge Gary Arnold reviewed the charges he faced. The charge of murder was reduced to negligent homicide and carried a sentence of six years. The charge of tampering related to dumping Bernhardt’s body in the road carried a sentence of six years. The second charge of tampering related to hiding the vehicle carried a sentence of six years. The sentences are to be served consecutively for a total of 18 years.

This sentence is considerably longer than the five years that Blewett nearly received before the original prosecutor’s recusal. That potential sentence sparked anger in Bernhardt’s family and others in the community, leading to protests outside the courthouse.

Arkansas’s 6th Judicial District prosecuting attorney, Will Jones, took over the case in July.

Bernhardt’s aunt, Dawn Tanner, provided the first statement. Through tears, she said Alex was like her youngest child and his death shattered the family. Instead of visiting about milestones in his life, she said, the family would visit graves. Especially hurtful, she explained, was that they both shared a birthdate that will forever hold painful memories.

Bernhardt’s grandmother, Yvonne McConnell, spoke next, “Thomas Blewett made a choice to put that gun against his temple.”

She said the family accepted the plea deal to avoid reliving the event at trial. Some of the details around the night of Alex’s murder will never be answered, she feared. Questions like what Blewett’s father, who perjured himself regarding his whereabouts following the shooting, was doing that night; questions about the weapon used in the shooting that was never found.

Finally, Bernhardt’s mother, Stephanie Griffith, read a statement written by her brother. She said she hadn’t been able to find the correct words to put on paper. The statement read that if it had truly been an accident, Blewett would have helped Bernhardt instead of trying to destroy evidence. Bernhardt’s uncle implored Blewett to teach his kids about gun safety. The statement ended with a prayer that Blewett would never have to bury his son.

With the witness impact statements completed, Thomas Blewett took the stand to read a prepared statement. He asked for forgiveness, calling the night that he shot his friend “the worst day of my life.” While taking full responsibility, he said that he’d drunk too much that night. Blewett said that after he’d pointed the gun at Bernhardt, the two of them had wrestled with the gun and seemed to suggest that perhaps the weapon had a faulty safety. “I am terribly sorry,” he told the family.