One Question Answered: The LaRenda Vick Trial

Today, we’re talking about a criminal case out of Johnson County that sounds, at first, like an insurance fraud trial.But it is wrapped inside a much larger story.A husband found dead in a Harmony home.A death certificate that calls it a homicide.A mother-in-law later found unconscious beside an alleged confession note.A house fire eight months later.And now, a Johnson County jury has answered one question in that tangled story.LaRenda Lee Vick was convicted in May 2026 of theft of property valued at more than $25,000 after prosecutors said she defrauded State Farm by claiming personal property was destroyed in a fire, even though witnesses said many of those items had already been moved out of the home.The home burned on Sept. 19, 2023, in the Harmony community near Clarksville. It was the same home where Vick’s husband, William Vick, had been found dead months earlier.Vick was sentenced to six years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. Prosecutor Jeff Phillips said the State made a point to try Vick only on the charge it believed it could prove, and not on the other suspicions surrounding the case.William Vick’s family told River Valley Radio the verdict felt like a step in the right direction, but not the end of the story.You can listen to full story hear or read the full story, including the background on the homicide investigation, the property disputes and the State Farm case, now at rivervalleyradio.com.