Mayflower road-rage shooter sentenced to life without parole after jury trial

CONWAY, Ark. – A shooting death on an interstate on-ramp in 2023 has led to a Marion man receiving a life sentence without parole in a Faulkner County court.

A Monday release from the Twentieth Judicial District said that 20-year-old Dylan Collins of Marion was sentenced to life without parole on July 17 for a charge of capital murder. A jury found Collins guilty after less than an hour of deliberation in the death of Arva Wilkerson of Russell Springs, Kentucky, on Jan. 14, 2023.

According to court records, a Mayflower Police Department investigation determined that the then-18-year-old Collins shot Wilkerson in a road rage incident. Wilkerson had called 911 minutes before the shooting, complaining about a reckless driver, later determined to be Collins.

Collins told investigators he took the off-ramp in Mayflower, and Wilkerson followed him and continued to follow him onto the on-ramp. He stopped on the on-ramp to confront Wilkerson, he said.

At the on-ramp, police records show Collins got out of his car and walked towards Wilkerson’s pickup truck, then fired 13 shots from a handgun, striking Wilkerson three times. He then got back in his car and d...