BOONEVILLE -- A Logan County teenager pleaded guilty Friday to shooting his mother to death when he was 16 and received 30 years in prison.

William Steve Anthony Frost, 18, of East Highway 10 in Magazine, originally was charged with murder in the first degree but pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree, according to court records.

He received credit for serving more than 850 days in jail since his arrest, leaving the remainder of his sentence at almost 28 years. He also must pay court costs and fees.

According to court documents, Frost shot and killed his mother, Julia Fern Frost, with a .357 handgun on Aug. 7, 2022.

"William retrieved a firearm belonging to Julia and took it back to his bedroom where he waited for Julia," an affidavit from the Logan County Sheriff's Office states.

Witnesses said he walked to a neighbor's house and asked them to call 911, the affidavit states.

FITNESS QUESTIONED

Frost told the neighbors his mother had been shot by her ex-boyfriend and that the shooter had left in a vehicle, according to the affidavit.

Upon arriving at the residence, Logan County deputies found Fern Frost "deceased from apparent gunshot wounds inside the house," according to a news release from the Sheriff's Office at the time.

"A handgun that is believed to have been used by the suspect was later recovered in a pond behind the house," the release stated.

A Sept. 2, 2022, warrant was issued for William Frost's arrest, court filings show.

After multiple continuances in the case, the prosecution filed for a mental evaluation on July 6, 2023, because Frost's "fitness to proceed has become an issue in this case," according to court documents.

A Jan. 9 exam by a psychologist over about 1 1/2 hours found Frost did not have a mental disease or defect at that time and was able to understand the charges against him and court process and assist his attorney in his defense, court filings show.

VICTIM HAD LARGE FAMILY

Julie Fern Frost was 45 when she died, according to obituary information from Bulger Funeral Home Chapel in Booneville.

She was survived by her parents; six sons, not including William; and four daughters; plus six brothers and one sister; and four grandchildren, her obituary stated.

Fern Frost was an LPN who worked at a local hospital and a local nursing home, the obituary noted. She was a member of Southside Assembly of God Church.

TEEN'S ALLEGATIONS

Frost said during the psychiatric evaluation that he had a "hectic" home life that "went downhill" after his mother had cancer that later went into remission, the psychologist's report states.

After his parents separated when he was in eighth grade, Frost told the psychologist, "Everything went to (expletive)," court papers state.

The exam report states that Frost described his mother as mean and verbally and physically abusive. The teenager told the psychologist that his mother hit him with objects including "a conduit pipe" and "a bat" but he did not tell his father about the abuse, court records show.

A friend's parents contacted the Arkansas Department of Human Services after noticing injuries on Frost, he told the psychologist, but authorities and his father thought he was lying, court documents indicate.

Frost said he got in trouble often for stealing food and was frequently bullied in school, according to the psychologist's report.

He recalled when he was young having to rummage through trash to find scraps of food, court records show. The Frosts were the teenager's adoptive parents, according to court documents.

The psychologist noted social and emotional immaturity in Frost during the exam, documents show. Frost told the examiner that he had been in and out of psychiatric care since he was 7 and has PTSD, anxiety and depression, court documents state.