Ann Massey lives in an ongoing nightmare — the ever-looming realization that her husband’s murderer will be released from the Arkansas State Hospital and back in society.

On March 28, 2019, Patrick Massey spent the day working on his truck. Around 2 p.m., he headed to Pine Bluff from his house in Lazy Bend off Grant 19. Phillip Reynolds lived up the road near a church, and Patrick Massey had to pass the road where Reynolds had lived since around 2015 on land that had been in his family for generations.

No one then knew much about Reynolds.

No one still knows why Reynolds decided to wreck lasting trauma on the Lazy Bend Community that day.

Something made Patrick Massey turn and go to Reynolds’ cabin right off Grant 19.

Maybe he noticed the chaos that Reynolds had been stirring since at least daylight that prompted numerous 911 calls to Grant County dispatch.

Reynolds shot Patrick Massey nine times, chopped off four of his fingers with a kaiser blade, scalped him and burned his corpse.

Law enforcement shot at Reynolds. He shot back. He retreated into the woods, only to emerge naked with his arms raised above his hands.

Reynolds was charged with:

For five years, the Massey family and everyone else who endured that March day attended numerous court proceedings at the Grant County Courthouse.

Reynolds, who has Grant and Union County roots, lived previously in Texas where he practiced law. Seventh District Circuit Judge Eddy Easley started out on the complex Reynolds case.

Circuit Judge Stephen Shirron, who served as a deputy prosecuting attorney on the case when Easley initially heard it, acquitted Reynolds under 5-2-314 “Judgment of Acquittal for Lack of Criminal Responsibility due to Mental Disease or Defect” May 7, 2024, although previously Reynolds had been fit to proceed to an October jury trial.

Reynolds was placed in the Act 911 Monitoring Program on Aug. 7, 2024.

Act 911 of 1989 allows people to complete inpatient treatment and then they are discharged from the hospital on a conditional release order that allows the state to monitor their community functioning for up to five years. After those five years, a person is free to be in society.

Reynolds never faced a jury. He never went to prison. Under Act 911 of 1989, Reynolds went to the state hospital where after rehabilitation he will eventually be released after a hearing before a judge to see if he is fit.

In March 2025, Reynolds asked for such a hearing to see if he could leave the state hospital for a less-secure facility connected to the Centers for Youth and Family. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Hugh Finklestein denied the release.

Since then, Ann Massey has worried when Reynolds would ask again. Not if, when.

Now he has.

Reynolds, 58, will have a hearing in June. He has undergone a new psychological evaluation.

However, Christopher Turansky, a deputy prosecuting attorney for Pulaski County, confirmed on June 5 that he had received “the report from the doctor requesting his conditional release. ACA 5-2-315 gives me 20 days to review that report and set a hearing, so a hearing has not been set yet.”

The hearing could be June 17.

On June 5, Dr. Michelle Ransom, attending psychiatrist Section Chief Unit C, at the Arkansas State Hospital, filed an Act 911 and Conditional Release Request Report, in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

The 2025 psychological evaluation and others from previous years on Reynolds differs from the one filed June 5.

The most striking change? Reynolds’ psychological diagnosis has changed. For several years, doctors diagnosed Reynolds with delusional disorder. This time, Dr. Ransom diagnosed Reynolds’ with Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type.

The opinions in this report states that Reynolds continues to be affected by mental disease and that his offense did involve bodily injury to another person. It also states that his conditional release to Centers for Youth and Families, Destiny House, in Little Rock, is a locked residential treatment facility. His release to this place “would not create substantial risk of bodily injury to others or serious damage to the property of others.”

An opinion by Ransom at the end of the 13-page assessment states that he continues to be affected by Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type. “His symptoms and insight have improved significantly with treatment,” Ransom wrote. Reynolds has maintained a “blue band, our highest level of privilege since 2023” and worked on a wellness and recovery action plan.”

Ransom wrote, “His future risk of violence is assessed as high related to the nature of his charges. His imminent violence risk is assessed as low. He does not meet criterion for inpatient psychiatric treatment.”

Ten “Conditions of Release” are listed in the assessment. They include that his mental health provider would be The Centers Destiny House located 6425 West 12th Street in Little Rock. He will participate in treatment provided by The Centers Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Other treatment could be recommended.

His physician will be Dr. John Schay and his primary therapist will be Ineka Clark. Reynolds will abstain from alcohol or drugs but agrees to take all prescribed medications. He will have random drug tests.

“Mr. Reynolds will not leave the premises of The Centers without the consent and/or permission of the staff and 911 monitor,” the assessment states. “All outing in Pulaski County will be accompanied by The Centers staff. All outings outside of Pulaski County will have to be approved by the court.”

The Centers is the payee for Reynolds’ care. He is to have regular visitors with his 911 monitor.

“Mr. Reynolds will not be in actual or constructive possession of any firearms or other weapons,” the assessment states. “Mr. Reynolds will not enter Grant County without approval from the court.”

Ann Massey has spent the countless hours since the 2024 acquittal contacting legislators, law enforcement and anyone who would listen trying to get Act 911 changed so what happened to her family never happens to another person. She even had a one-on-one chat with Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders when she visited Sheridan.

Still, nothing has changed.

Ann Massey is now lobbying her friends, neighbors and concerned citizens to call Chris Turansky’s and Prosecuting Attorney Teresa Howell and tell them to work to keep Reynolds’ locked in the state hospital.

In a comment to the Fire, Ann Massey wrote:

“Seven years ago, Philip Reynolds came to our community and committed an act of violence that none of us will ever forget. On March 28, 2019, he murdered my husband Patrick Massey — a man who was loved deeply by his family, his friends, and this community. Patrick deserved better. We all did.

“Philip Reynolds is now being considered for conditional release. A hearing is scheduled for June 17, 2026. I have serious, documented concerns about the accuracy of the report recommending his release, the safety of his proposed support system, and what the violence risk assessments in his own records say about the danger he poses to the public. Those concerns are before the prosecuting attorney and I am asking this court to oppose his release and order an independent psychiatric evaluation before any decision is made.

To everyone who has already called or emailed the prosecuting attorney's office — I do not have the words to express what that has meant to me and my family. You touched my heart in a way I will carry with me forever. Knowing that we are not alone in this — that our community has come together for Patrick — has given me strength I did not know I still had. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

“If you have had any contact with Philip Reynolds in the last year and a half — any phone call, letter, message, or communication of any kind, whether directly from him or through someone acting on his behalf — please contact the prosecuting attorney's office immediately. That information could make a difference on June 17th.

“Patrick was more than a victim. He was a husband, a father, a friend, and a member of this community. He deserves to be remembered and he deserves justice. Please keep coming together for him.”

Massey provided the following information to call and email before June 17:

State Senator Ben Gilmore: 501-467-5952
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’: 501-682-2345
AR Legislative Switchboard, ask for your legislator: 501-682-2902
Christopher Turansky (Prosecuting Attorney): [email protected]
Teresa Howell (Grant County Prosecuting Attorney): [email protected]