23-Year-Old Treyton Russell Sentenced for Elaine Shooting, Unborn Baby's Death

Treyton Russell, 23, of Wabash pleaded guilty Monday, March 2, to second-degree murder and first-degree battery in the April 2023 Oak Street shooting in Elaine that wounded two women and killed an unborn child named Paisley. The plea came after investigators tied the fatal wound to the unborn baby and prosecutors filed murder and battery counts in Phillips County court.

Court records and an Arkansas Department of Public Safety news release report that Russell was sentenced to 15 years for the murder charge and 15 years for the battery charge, and that the court ordered the sentences to run concurrently in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. The Osceola Times summed the sentence this way: "Russell was sentenced to 15 years for the murder charge and 15 years for the battery charge. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently in the Arkansas Department of Corrections."

State and local releases used two ways to describe the outcome. The Arkansas Department of Public Safety said, "A 2023 shooting that led to the death of an unborn child has resulted in a 30-year prison sentence for Treyton Russell, 23, of Wabash. On Monday, March 2, 2026, Russell pleaded guilty to Second-Degree Murder and First-Degree Battery as part of a plea agreement." Several local outlets also used a 30-year phrasing in headlines while their body text lists the concurrent 15-year terms.

Investigators say the attack occurred in April 2023 when shots were fired through the front window of an Oak Street apartment in Elaine. Victims were identified as 30-year-old Parneisha Slater and 38-year-old Sandy Williams. Slater, who was reported to be about 25 weeks pregnant at the time, was shot; however, "Slater’s unborn baby, Paisley, died as a result of the gunshot wound, which led to the murder charge." Both adult victims were flown to a Memphis hospital for treatment, and a child who was inside the apartment at the time was not injured.

Russell was arrested at his home in Wabash on April 9, 2023, after the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division. At the time of arrest he was initially charged with two counts of first-degree battery before prosecutors amended the case and reached the plea agreement that produced the murder count tied to the unborn child’s death.

The sentencing order filed with the Phillips County court clerk will clarify how the court intends the concurrent terms to operate in practice, including any information on parole eligibility or credit for time served; obtaining that docket entry is the necessary step to resolve the 30-year versus concurrent-15-year wording used across official and local releases.