Police say the attack appeared random, while court documents describe a suspect who told detectives he believed he was confronting a demon.
CONWAY, Ark. — A 32-year-old Walmart employee was fatally stabbed during a late-night shift at a Conway store on March 31, and a 37-year-old man now faces a first-degree murder charge after police said the attack appeared to be random.
The killing of Jordanne Drinkwater quickly became both a homicide case and a wider test of what investigators could explain about a fast-moving attack inside one of the city’s busiest stores. Police have said Ross did not know Drinkwater and had no known interaction with her before the stabbing. A probable-cause affidavit later added a startling claim: that Ross told detectives he believed he was trying to kill a “demon.” By Friday, Ross remained in the Faulkner County jail, while police continued to sort through witness accounts, physical evidence and the separate review that follows any officer-involved shooting.
Police said officers were dispatched to the Walmart on Skyline Drive at 10:58 p.m. Tuesday after a report that a man was stabbing a female employee inside the store. Officers arrived within about a minute and found the suspect still armed with a knife, according to police accounts released through local media and later repeated in local reports. Officers ordered him several times to drop the weapon, but police said he did not comply and moved toward an officer while still armed. One officer fired a single shot, and a second officer used a Taser. The suspect was taken into custody at the scene. Drinkwater, who police said was working her shift when she was attacked, was given emergency aid by officers and medical personnel but died at the store. Conway Police Department spokesperson Daniel Hogan later said officers had faced “an active threat situation” and “acted appropriately” before trying to save her.
By the end of the week, investigators had begun to release more about what they say Ross told them after his arrest. According to a probable-cause affidavit described in Arkansas local coverage, Ross told detectives he believed he had been followed by a demon and had armed himself before entering the store. Investigators said he told them he first stole a large knife from Walgreens, then picked up a machete inside Walmart because he believed it would protect him better. In that account, Ross described the figure he thought was pursuing him as a light-skinned Black woman with brown eyes and a weave. Detectives say Ross then grabbed Drinkwater and stabbed her multiple times in the neck and shoulder area, later telling police that he looked down and realized the woman on the floor was not the person he thought he was attacking. Police have not publicly released video, detailed a full sequence inside the store or said whether Ross had a lawyer as of Friday.
The case has shaken Conway in part because police say there was no known connection between the victim and the suspect. Investigators said Ross was not employed by Walmart, was not known to Drinkwater and had no prior interaction with her before the attack. That account left relatives, coworkers and other residents trying to make sense of a killing that appears to have erupted without warning during a normal work shift. Police have continued asking anyone who saw the stabbing or the moments before it to come forward. The public record remains thin on some central points, including how long Ross had been inside the store before the attack, exactly where he moved once inside and how many shoppers and workers witnessed the confrontation. Those gaps have added to the sense of shock around Drinkwater’s death, especially because officers were on scene so quickly and still could not save her. The store’s location on a major Conway commercial corridor only widened the attention.
For Drinkwater’s friends, the story has moved beyond police timelines into the language of loss. In one televised interview, a friend said Drinkwater had helped her stay sober and see the world with less anger, calling her “an amazing human being” who would be deeply missed. The comments, raw and emotional, stood in contrast to the clipped wording of arrest records and incident summaries. They also helped fill in the picture of a woman who, by police account, had simply gone to work and never made it home. Local coverage in the days after the stabbing showed a community moving from disbelief to mourning, with friends speaking about Drinkwater as generous, steady and unusually kind. Even Conway police, while still withholding many investigative details, publicly extended condolences to her family, friends and coworkers. That mix of formal procedure and personal grief has defined the case since the first night, as residents wait for court filings to catch up with the human damage already left behind.
The legal process is now moving on several fronts. Jail records show Ross was booked into the Faulkner County Detention Center at 3:40 a.m. on April 1 by the Conway Police Department. The online roster listed him Friday as charged with first-degree murder, a Class Y felony, and showed a $1 million bond, while also warning that charges and bond amounts can change after court appearances. Separately, the officer who fired the shot during the confrontation was placed on administrative leave under department policy, a standard step that keeps the internal review distinct from the homicide investigation. Police have not said whether prosecutors will add charges related to the weapons investigators say Ross carried into or picked up inside the store. They also have not publicly outlined whether mental competency could become an issue later in the case. Any first appearance, bond review or formal filing beyond the jail listing had not been publicly detailed by Friday evening.
Another layer of the story came from Ross’s mother, who told local television she no longer recognized her son and believed he had been unraveling for years. She said she was horrified by the affidavit and said that if she had known he was experiencing hallucinations or delusions, she would have tried to get him hospitalized. She also said he had struggled with depression and had been prescribed medication in the past. Those comments do not answer the legal questions now facing prosecutors, and they do not change the central allegation that police say Ross attacked a stranger inside a store. But they do show how the case is likely to develop beyond a simple recitation of charge and bond. It now sits at the intersection of criminal law, police response and unanswered questions about the suspect’s mental state, all while Drinkwater’s family and friends are left with a death that police say happened in a matter of moments.
As of Friday, Ross remained in the Faulkner County jail on the murder charge, the officer-involved shooting review was still open and Conway police were still asking witnesses to contact investigators. The next public marker is expected to be a court update or additional filing, though no specific hearing date had been announced.
Author note: Last updated April 3, 2026.