May 11, 2026

Episode 190 The Murder of Ella Barham

22 minutes

In 1912, 18-year-old Ella Barham left her family’s farm near Pleasant Ridge, Arkansas, on an ordinary errand and never came home. Her brutal murder shocked Boone County and led authorities to a neighbor accused of killing her after years of rejected romantic interest. More than a century later, Ella Barham’s murder remains one of Arkansas’ darkest and most troubling true crime stories.

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Episode Sources

Gould, Nita. Remembering Ella: A 1912 Murder and Mystery in the Arkansas Ozarks. Butler Center Books / University of Arkansas Press, 2018. (rememberingella.com)

Barham, Ella (Murder of) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Gould, Nita, ed. The 1913 Trial of Odus Davidson: The Official Witness Testimony. Companion volume to Remembering Ella.

Encyclopedia of Arkansas — 'Barham, Ella (Murder of)' (encyclopediaofarkansas.net)

Encyclopedia of Arkansas — 'Davidson, Odus' (encyclopediaofarkansas.net)

Find a Grave — Ella Lillian Ethel Barham (memorial #40832262)

Find a Grave — Odus Davidson (memorial #31134642)

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — 'The verdict: Guilty of murder' (review of Remembering Ella by Tom Dillard, December 9, 2018)

AY Magazine — 'Murder Mystery: In Memoriam: Ella Barham' (aymag.com)

Case file: State v. Davidson, No. 183 (Ark. Cir. Ct. 1913). Boone County Circuit Clerk's Office, Boone County Courthouse, Harrison, Arkansas.

Case file: Davidson v. State, 108 Ark. 158, S.W. 1103 (1913). University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law / Pulaski County Law Library, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Boone County Court Record Book L, County Clerk's Office, Boone County Courthouse, Harrison, Arkansas.

Lead Hill, Arkansas newspaper, November 22, 1912 — first published account of the murder (via Chronicling America, Library of Congress, loc.gov)

Batesville Daily Guard — editorial on circumstantial evidence and the Davidson verdict

Shiloh Museum of Ozark History — 'Scenes of Boone County' (shilohmuseum.org)

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.

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By Shannon Ballard

4.8

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