A Stilwell man who confessed to killing a Sallisaw man whose body was later recovered in Adair County has been sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison.
Mose Adam Smith, 43, of Stilwell, was sentenced to 121 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release after a federal jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter in Indian Country.
The sentence was handed down in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma by Chief Judge Ronald A. White.
The case began in July 2023 when Ricky D. Henning, 58, of Sallisaw, was reported missing by his family. Sequoyah County Sheriff Larry Lane said investigators quickly grew concerned after Henning’s daughter reported that his truck and dog were missing from his home, though all his clothes and belongings were left behind.
Sheriff ’s deputies, working with Cherokee Nation Marshals, the FBI and other agencies, pieced together Henning’s last known whereabouts. Smith and co-defendant Kimberly Dawn Ball-Gilbert, 42, of Sallisaw, were later stopped in Wisconsin driving Henning’s truck, but released at the time due to lack of evidence.
Days later, the pair were arrested in Illinois after allegedly assaulting a woman with a crutch and a knife.
While in custody in Dubuque, Iowa, the two confessed to killing Henning and gave investigators information about where his body could be found. On July 23, 2023, two Sequoyah County investigators flew to Illinois to interview Smith and Gilbert.
Acting on details provided, officers and volunteers searched a remote 200-acre wooded area in southern Adair County and located human remains later confirmed to be Henning’s.
According to trial evidence, Smith struck Henning during an altercation at Henning’s Sallisaw residence on July 17, 2023. Henning died from blunt force trauma sustained in the fight. Smith and Gilbert then fled the state in Henning’s truck.
Ball-Gilbert later pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting Smith in Henning’s death. Her sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick M. Flanigan and Lewis M. Reagan prosecuted the case, which involved cooperation between the Sequoyah County Sheriff ’s Office, FBI, Cherokee Nation Attorney General’s Office, and law enforcement in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Smith will remain in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service until he is transferred to a federal bureau of prisons facility to serve his non-paroleable sentence.
