A routine late-night shift turned into a nightmare inside an Arkansas Walmart — and the chilling reason behind it is leaving even investigators shaken.
According to newly released court documents, 37-year-old Zeddrick Ross allegedly walked into the Walmart on Skyline Drive in Conway with a terrifying mission: he believed he was being followed by a “demon”… and was prepared to kill it.
But what unfolded next was pure horror.
Police say Ross first armed himself by stealing a large knife from a nearby Walgreens. Then, once inside Walmart, he allegedly upgraded his weapon — grabbing a machete he believed would better protect him from what he described as a supernatural threat stalking him.
That “demon,” Ross told investigators, looked like a light-skinned Black woman with brown eyes and a weave.
Moments later, tragedy struck.
Authorities say Ross spotted someone he believed matched that description. He lunged.
The victim was not a demon.
She was 32-year-old Jordanne Drinkwater — a Walmart employee simply doing her job.
According to the affidavit, Ross allegedly grabbed Drinkwater and stabbed her multiple times in the neck and shoulder. The attack was brutal, sudden, and over in moments.
Then came the chilling realization.
Ross allegedly told detectives that after the stabbing, he looked down and realized the woman “was not the demon” — and didn’t even resemble what he believed he was hunting.
By then, it was too late.
Drinkwater died from her injuries, leaving behind a devastated family — and a community struggling to make sense of the violence.
Police say officers arrived within about a minute of receiving calls about the stabbing. They encountered Ross still holding the knife. When he refused to drop it, one officer fired a shot while another deployed a Taser before taking him into custody.
As shocking as the crime itself is what Ross’s own mother revealed in the aftermath.
In an emotional interview, Michelle Ross said she believes her son had been spiraling for years — and fears this tragedy could have been prevented.
“I don’t even recognize him anymore,” she said. “That’s not the son I knew.”
When told her son claimed he was trying to kill a demon, she was stunned.
“Now I know he’s really not well,” she said. “He’s definitely not sane talking like that.”
She described a history of mental health struggles, including depression and prescribed medication like Zoloft — which she says he stopped taking. She also recalled a disturbing final phone call back in 2019, when he began speaking about paranoia and government surveillance.
“He said the television was watching you,” she recalled. “That’s when I knew something wasn’t right.”
After that call, they never spoke again.
Now, she believes her son may have been suffering from severe delusions or hearing voices — something she says she would have acted on immediately if she had known.
“He needs to be in a mental institution,” she said. “If that had happened years ago, none of this would have happened.”
Still, despite her heartbreak, she didn’t hesitate when it came to accountability.
“He belongs in prison,” she said. “I agree with that.”
Her grief, however, is overshadowed by another family’s unimaginable loss.
“My heart goes out to her family,” she said. “They lost a daughter who should still be here.”
As the investigation continues, one haunting question lingers: how did a man convinced he was fighting evil walk into a crowded store — and end an innocent life?
For Jordanne Drinkwater, it was just another shift at work.
For everyone else, it’s a chilling reminder of how quickly reality can turn deadly.
He looks like a demon
How are these people walking around among normal people? The need to be committed to mental facilities indefinitely.