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FAYETTEVILLE -- A man was found guilty of fatally shooting his wife in the back of the head in a secluded area near Lake Wedington in 2021 and will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Jason Ross Dunigan, 43, of Dakota Trail in Farmington, was charged with capital murder in Washington County Circuit Court, which carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole after prosecutors earlier waived the death penalty. Dunigan did not testify or call witnesses in his defense.
Police were called to a report of a dead woman in a car parked off Arkansas 16 west of Fayetteville, near Lake Wedington, around 10 p.m. on May 28, 2021. An Arkansas State Police trooper arrived and talked with Dunigan, who identified the woman as his wife, 36-year-old Amber Sue Dunigan.
Jason Dunigan told police he had met his wife at that spot earlier in the evening because he was having car trouble and called her for help, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Dunigan said after they met, he left his wife at the location by Lake Wedington and drove home. He said he later became concerned when his wife didn't arrive home behind him and made multiple calls to her, but couldn't contact her. Dunigan said he called his parents and drove with them to the spot where he had left his wife, and he found her dead in her car.
Dunigan denied killing Amber in interviews with police. But, prosecutors said Dunigan had plotted to kill his wife for months and part of the motive was cash from a $165,000 life insurance policy she carried on herself. He was also having a sexual relationship with another woman.
Dylan Weisenfels, deputy prosecutor, told jurors the murder was premeditated and deliberate.
"There is no doubt this defendant, Jason Dunigan, killed his wife, Amber Dunigan, after months of planning," Weisenfels said.
Dunigan had done online searches for firearm forensics and ballistics, crime scene investigation, replacement barrels for firearms, hired guns, which snake venom and how much would be fatal to a person, circumstances in which life insurance policies would and would not be paid, choking deaths, hired guns, suppressors, cars blowing up, ways people die accidental deaths, DNA testing on shell casings, how to tell if a person has fired a gun, the forensics of shooting a pistol, the use of forensics to find fingerprints on shell casings, shooting a home intruder, the weirdest ways people have died, overdose deaths and how trajectory is used to determine the locations of shooters and victims, among others.
"It only makes sense in the context this defendant was going to kill his wife," Weisenfels said.
Prosecutors used location data from Jason's and Amber's cellphones, various apps and their cars' navigation systems to give the jury a detailed story of where Dunigan went that day and when, including during a three-hour window in which his phone was turned off and Amber was killed.
The data from multiple platforms put both of them at the same location at 8:05 p.m., when Amber texted a friend that she had found Jason and his car. There was no activity on Amber's cellphone after 8:09 p.m., when it briefly connected with Jason Dunigan's Ford Flex, likely when he started the car to leave, according to prosecutors.
During that short window, prosecutors charge that Jason Dunigan wrapped a work shirt around a pistol, approached Amber's car and shot her in the back of the head through the open driver's side window. The bullet exited Amber's forehead but was never found.
Jason Dunigan had turned off his cellphone just after 6 p.m., after plotting a route to the crime scene from West Fork and turned his phone back on at his home just after 9 p.m., according to the data.
"He went straight from West Fork to where he committed the murder," Weisenfels said.
Dunigan then sped home, averaging 66 mph and hitting 88 in a 45 mph zone at one point.
Dunigan also deleted video from the home security system, turned the location app on his phone back on and played games on his phone before returning to the crime scene with his parents and calling police to report Amber had been shot and was dead, according to witness testimony.
"He was trying to outsmart everybody but he doesn't," Weisenfels said. "The only liar in this case is the defendant."
Prosecuting Attorney Brandon Carter praised police and prosecutors for their months of work on the case.
"I hope the end of this trial provides long‐needed closure to the loved ones of Amber Dunigan. The defendant in this case did an absolutely evil thing when he murdered his wife to profit from her life insurance and start a life with another woman," Carter said. "Although he believed he had a well thought out plan to cover his tracks, the truth of the situation - that he had murdered his wife - was found after relentless investigation by the authorities. I commend their tireless commitment to justice for Amber Dunigan."
Investigators said in their probable cause affidavit that they found found cash, Amber's cellphone and other valuables in her vehicle, leading them to believe it was not part of a robbery.
Investigators found a small piece of neon green fabric while examining Amber's head wound that appeared similar to work shirts used by Dunigan. Investigators sent the fabric and one of Dunigan's work shirts to the FBI for analysis and they were found to be consistent, according to the affidavit. Police said they believed one of Dunigan's work shirts was used to muffle the sound of a gunshot.
A search warrant was obtained for Dunigan's home, and a surveillance system at the residence was seized and analyzed. The system showed complete footage of the home from days before and after the shooting, but the time between 6:22 p.m. and 8:26 p.m. on the night of the shooting was missing. Dunigan had accessed the security system from his phone several times.
Investigators also obtained a search warrant for the vehicle Dunigan was driving the night of the shooting and analyzed navigation logs, location data and functions within the car, such as gear shifts, door openings and closings and phone connections. The vehicle showed no malfunction codes and was parked near the Lake Wedington boat ramp, just east of the spot where the victim was found, at 7 p.m. the night of the shooting, according to the affidavit.
The analysis further showed at 7:07 p.m., the vehicle moved to the location where Amber Dunigan was found and remained there until it left that location and was driven to Jason Dunigan's home, reaching a top speed of 88 mph and driving over 70 mph for long intervals. Information from the vehicle also showed Dunigan arrived home at 8:25 p.m. the night of the shooting, one minute before the surveillance video resumed.
Investigators questioned Dunigan's roommate and live-in babysitter, who said she and Dunigan were involved in a sexual relationship and Dunigan's wife was aware of it, according to the affidavit.
Investigators also spoke with another person who said Dunigan complained his wife's place of business wouldn't release her life insurance to him, according to the affidavit. That person said Dunigan told them he was the "number one suspect" but said it would come out his wife had actually been killed by a hunter in the area. Amber Dunigan had a life insurance policy with her husband and her son listed as beneficiaries, according to the affidavit.