Cody Lee Arnold is a convicted killer from Texas who was convicted of the murder of Katelynn Stone
According to court documents twenty one year old Cody Lee Arnold was involved in a relationship with sixteen year old Katelynn Stone. When Stone became pregnant Arnold became fearful that their relationship would come out and that he would be labelled as a sex offender
Cody Lee Arnold and Chelsea Shipp would be smoking meth when Shipp would fatally shoot Katelynn Stone. Cody Lee Arnold would cover the sixteen year old head with a trash bag so he would not have to look at her
Police would perform a welfare check the next day and would discover the body of Katelynn Stone. Cody Lee Arnold and Chelsea Shipp would be arrested
Chelsea Shipp would take a plea deal in the murder and would receive a forty year sentence
Cody Lee Arnold would go to trial and would be convicted of murder, he will be sentenced at a later date
Cody Lee Arnold Case
A Jefferson County jury on Monday found Cody Lee Arnold, of Beaumont, guilty of murder in the 2022 death of 16-year-old Katelynn Stone.
The verdict was returned Monday afternoon, March 23, 2026, in Criminal District Court following a trial in which prosecutors argued Arnold and a co-defendant killed Stone to prevent Arnold from being labeled a sex offender
The punishment phase of the trial will begin Monday afternoon.
Stone’s body was found inside Arnold’s home on Kolbs Corner Rd in March 2022. Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office investigators went to Arnold’s residence, obtained consent to enter and discovered Stone’s body in his bedroom, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.
Prosecutor Jimmy Hamm told jurors during opening statements that Stone, who was 16, had entered into a relationship with Arnold, eventually moved in with him and later believed she might be pregnant. Hamm argued Arnold viewed the situation as a threat to his reputation.
“They were seen together. They were talking about what they were going to do. They were smoking meth that entire weekend to build up the courage to kill that girl,” Hamm told the jury during opening statements last week.
Investigators said Arnold told detectives he had been using methamphetamine with co-defendant Chelsea Shipp and that he left the room where Stone was sleeping, only to return and find Shipp pointing a gun at the teenager. Arnold told investigators he watched Shipp pull the trigger and kill Stone, and that he afterward covered Stone’s head with a trash bag because he did not want to look at it. He also admitted he did not report the killing.
Stone’s body remained inside the home from approximately 2 p.m. Saturday until around 10 p.m. Sunday, when sheriff’s deputies arrived, according to the affidavit,
Shipp previously accepted a plea agreement and was sentenced to 40 years in prison in connection with the killing.
The trial was presided over by Criminal District Court Judge John Stevens.
Beaumont man found guilty of murder in 2022 death of 16-year-old girl | 12newsnow.com
Chelsea Shipp Sentencing
A 28-year-old Southeast Texas woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison today after accepting a plea offer in the murder of a 16-year-old girl, who was shot while sleeping in a Jefferson County mobile home in March 2022.
Chelsea Ann-Marie Shipp, 28, of Winnie, appeared before Judge John Stevens in Criminal District Court, where she entered the plea agreement with prosecutors. She had been indicted on first degree murder charges in June 2022.
The case began March 27, 2022, when Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies discovered the body of Katelynn Nicole Stone, 16, after receiving information from witnesses about the killing.
Shipp confessed to multiple people that she shot Stone, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case. Shipp, on March 27, 2022, told another woman, “I got rid of her” and “I shot her,” while making a shooting motion with two fingers, court records show.
The shooting happened March 26, 2022, between 2-3 p.m. at the mobile home where Stone lived with her boyfriend, Cody Arnold, 25, of Beaumont. Arnold told investigators that Stone had recently taken a pregnancy test that came back positive and that Shipp was telling him “he was going to get in trouble for getting her pregnant.”
Court documents show Shipp also approached the woman’s nephew asking for help moving Stone’s body from Arnold’s residence. The woman’s nephew refused and both he and the woman provided sworn affidavits to authorities.
Arnold gave detectives consent to search his mobile home on March 27. Police found Stone’s body wrapped in a black garbage bag and blanket on a bed, with a shell casing visible on a pillow. The upper portion of the body was wrapped in the garbage bag, while the lower portion was covered with a blanket.
Arnold was arrested March 27, 2022, the same day Stone’s body was discovered. Shipp was arrested March 31, 2022. Both Shipp and Arnold were held on $1 million bonds at Jefferson County Jail.
The affidavit states Arnold admitted that Shipp owned both a .380 caliber handgun and a black 9mm handgun. Shipp reportedly told a friend that she planned to report one of her guns as stolen if questioned by police.
Arnold, who is currently being held in the Jefferson County Correctional Facility is et for trial on a murder charge on August 11, 2025, according to court records
Defense attorney James Makin represented Shipp in the proceedings.
Texas woman sentenced to 40 years for 16-year-old girl’s murder | 12newsnow.com
