A Stilwell woman has now been sentenced in federal court for her role in the 2023 killing of Sallisaw resident Ricky D. Henning, marking the latest development in a case that previously resulted in a conviction and prison term for her co-defendant.

Kimberly D. Ball-Gilbert, 43, of Stilwell, was sentenced last week to 97 months in federal prison for voluntary manslaughter in Indian Country. She will also serve three years of supervised release. Her sentencing follows her March 19 guilty plea, in which she admitted to aiding and abetting Mose A. Smith during the fatal July 17, 2023, assault on Henning.

Federal investigators determined that Ball-Gilbert and Smith beat Henning during a violent altercation at his residence south of Sallisaw, causing fatal blunt-force injuries. Afterward, the two fled the state in Henning’s 2007 Chevrolet truck and were arrested several days later in the midwest.

Their arrests and subsequent confessions came after Sequoyah County deputies initiated an investigation when Henning was reported missing. Early documentation and photographs taken at the scene later proved crucial, investigators said, and the suspects ultimately led authorities to Henning’s body in a remote area near Bunch on the Adair–Sequoyah county line.

Smith, also 43, was tried separately and found guilty by a federal jury on April 10. He was sentenced on Sept. 17 to 121 months in prison.

The crime occurred within the Cherokee Nation Reservation in Sequoyah County. The case was investigated by the FBI, Sequoyah County Sheriff ’s Office, Grant County (Wisconsin) Sheriff ’s Office, and Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory.

Chief U.S. District Judge Ronald A. White presided over Ball-Gilbert’s sentencing in the Eastern District of Oklahoma. She will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service until she is transported to a Bureau of Prisons facility.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick M. Flanigan and Lewis M. Reagan prosecuted both defendants.