DALARK, Arkansas — Dallas County officials are charging a couple following the death of a little girl who fell from a moving tractor.
Sheriff Mike Knoedl announced Friday that his agency was contacted by Clark County law enforcement late Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 24, 2026, regarding an accident involving a 3-year-old child who reportedly had been riding in a tractor’s front-end loader and fell from the moving vehicle on a property in the Dalark area near the Clark/Dallas county line.
The girl suffered traumatic, crushing injuries and was sent to Arkansas Children’s Hospital where she later succumbed to her injuries. Her body was sent to the state Crime Lab.
Dallas County deputies responded to the accident scene on a property in the Dalark area near the Clark/Dallas county line. Authorities documented the scene and collected evidence, and on Wednesday the sheriff and his chief deputy interviewed the victim’s mother and stepfather.
Officials determined that the stepfather, Dewayne Cecil Owens, 40, had been consuming alcohol while operating the tractor at the time of the accident, Knoedl said in a press release. Owens was arrested on preliminary charges of manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a minor, accidents involving death or personal injury, and possession of a firearm by a certain person.
The girl’s mother, 37-year-old Melinda Shahan, is being charged with accidents involving death or personal injury and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Both Owens and Shehan were arrested and booked into the Dallas County Jail in Fordyce, where they were scheduled for a first court appearance and bond hearing on Friday.
Knoedl said the incident is an ongoing investigation.