An El Dorado woman with a noted Columbia County past was formally charged this week by the local prosecutor’s office for felony assault. Erica Michelle Shryock, 21, is now facing one count of aggravated assault on a household or family member after an alleged stabbing incident against her fiancé earlier this year near the community of Walkerville.
Shryock was arrested Jan. 25 by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office after authorities were called to a Columbia Rd. 3 address for a reported stabbing. The victim was Shryock’s partner and housemate, 46-year-old Kenny Whiddon of Emerson. The incident was claimed to be accidental, according to statements Shryock told police, but she admitted that a stab wound had occurred to Whiddon’s left hand from a vase. He did not want treatment for the wound, according to case file documents.
“Ms. Shryock said that she lived with Kenny Whiddon for about six months and that they were engaged to be married,” said a Columbia County Sheriff’s Office probable cause affidavit. “She said that Kenny was trying to keep her hurting herself when she accidentally cut him.”
Shryock later told authorities that she was in need of medication “for mental disorders” and that she had not taken any meds since her release from prison in mid-2018. She also admitted to using illegal drugs, according to the affidavit. It was indicated that the victim did not want to press charges, but many states contain domestic violence laws and practices where that is not an option.
"Ms. Shryock said that Kennty did not want to press charges, and [the officer] explained to her the state's position on that," the CCSO criminal file said.
Shryock at the time of her arrest in January had only been out of prison for a few months. She, along with a co-defendant, on Feb. 1, 2018, pleaded guilty in Columbia County Circuit Court to permitting the abuse of a minor. The conviction stemmed from a May 2017 incident that saw her 15-day-old infant suffer 75-100 rodent bites at a now demolished S. Cordelia Street ramshackle home in Magnolia. For the conviction, she was sentenced to five years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections and 10 years SIS (probation). At the time of sentencing, the then 20-year-old had already spent 293 days in jail. The case made national news and was covered extensively by numerous publications throughout the state.
Due to parole regulations, and combined with her already time served, Shryock was released from prison after serving approximately two months at state correctional facilities. One report on social media claimed the El Dorado native was released around April 2018, which would fall in line with typical state parole standards of serving one-sixth of an issued sentence.
Shryock may now be facing more prison time. The just filed aggravated assault count is a Class D felony and could carry up to six years in prison, if convicted. But the felony count alone is not the only new charge for the accused. Since she was still on probation due to the 10-year SIS sentence in 2018, the Columbia County prosecutor’s office on Tuesday — one day after filing formal charges in the assault case — filed a revocation petition, thus reopening her 2017 child abuse case, according to court records. By doing so, Shryock could now be subject to penalties associated with that case, also a Class D felony, as well as her new aggravated assault on a household or family member charge.
Shryock was also arrested in January — just seven days before her assault arrest at Columbia Rd. 3 — on two Class A misdemeanor counts by the Magnolia Police Department. She was charged with possession of an instrument of crime and obstruction of governmental operations, according to a Jan. 23 MPD statement. Whiddon and another subject, 21-year-old Emily Thomas of Salesville, were also taken into custody during the incident. Since no felony count was filed in the case, that arrest would likely be handled in district court, if it is pursued, and not local criminal circuit court where the revocation and assault charges issues will be sorted out.