Zachary Holly, then 28, was sentenced to death on May 27, 2015, in Benton County Circuit Court for the murder of 6-year-old Jersey Bridgeman in Bentonville.
The sentencing followed a trial where Holly was convicted of capital murder, kidnapping, rape, and residential burglary.
Jersey Bridgeman was reported missing from her home at 608 Southeast A Street on November 20, 2012. Her body was found later that morning in a vacant house at 704 Southeast A Street just a few yards from her home.
The state medical examiner determined she died of strangulation with her pajama bottoms and had been sexually assaulted. Holly, a neighbor living at 702 Southeast A Street, was arrested on November 26, 2012, after DNA evidence linked him to the crime. He confessed to abducting, raping, and killing Jersey.
Prior to the murder, Holly had a limited documented criminal history. Court records and police reports from Benton County do not indicate felony convictions before 2012.
However, during his 2015 trial and later appeals, testimony revealed Holly had a troubled background, including juvenile incidents tied to drug use and an unstable childhood.
His mother, Ginger Simmons, testified in 2015 that she used drugs with him starting at age 10,, though no formal charges from that period were presented. Additionally, Holly’s stepfather, Joseph F. Blackmon, was a registered sex offender in California, convicted of lewd acts with a minor under 14 prior to Holly’s move to Arkansas.
Holly’s defense in later proceedings referenced unreported abuse and trauma from his youth, but specific prior convictions remain unconfirmed in public records.
The trial began in May 2015 before Judge Brad Karren. On May 20, a jury found Holly guilty on all charges after less than two hours of deliberation. During the sentencing phase, prosecutors sought the death penalty.
On May 27, the jury sentenced Holly to death for the murder, plus two life sentences for rape and kidnapping, and 20 years for burglary.
Holly’s conviction was upheld by the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2017. In 2019, he filed a Rule 37 petition claiming ineffective counsel, which was denied by Judge Karren on April 26, 2024, after hearings in October 2023. Holly appealed again, and as of March 27, 2025, his case is pending before the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Holly, now 40, is currently on death row at the Varner Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction. No execution date has been scheduled.
