A man convicted in one of the most infamous murders in recent Mid-South history appears to have killed the daughter of one of his original victims, 24 years later.

Martha McKay — a member of the influential Snowden family that once owned the Peabody hotel — was found dead late Wednesday morning at her home, the historic Snowden House at Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas.

The suspect in the killing is Travis Santay Lewis, according to Crittenden County Sheriff Mike Allen. Lewis was 17 when he pleaded guilty to the 1996 Horseshoe Lake murders of McKay's mother, Sally Snowden McKay, and Sally McKay's nephew, Lee Baker, a popular Memphis blues/rock guitarist.

Lewis, 39, had been paroled in 2018, according to Allen. He had been charged as an adult in connection with the 1996 murders.

"Deputies today responded to an alarm at the historical Snowden House in Horseshoe Lake," Allen said, in a statement. "Two deputies that arrived found an open back door and upon clearing the house located a possible suspect who jumped from an upstairs window and ran to a vehicle that he drove across the yard and got stuck in the yard.

"The suspect then jumped from the car and ran and jumped into the lake. He was observed going under the water and never came back up."

According to Allen, rescue teams from the sheriff's department and Arkansas Game and Fish used sonar equipment to locate and recover the body of Lewis, who had drowned.

In addition, "the body of a female was found deceased inside the house." Allen identified the woman as Martha McKay.

Allen said the state medical examiner will determine the cause of death. Neighbors, who asked not to be identified, reported that deputies told them McKay — who was in her mid-60s — had been stabbed, while others said a hammer was the weapon.

Built in 1919, the Snowden House is located several houses away from the Sally McKay home where McKay, 75, and Baker, 52, were found shot to death on Sept. 10, 1996.

Located about 35 miles southwest of Memphis, Horseshoe Lake is notable for its many upscale and vacation homes, and has long been a popular gathering place for Memphis artists, restaurateurs, socialites and others. The Snowden House was perhaps the lake's most impressive property, functioning in recent years as a bed-and-breakfast and as "Memphis' Premiere Wedding Venue," according to its website.

The site describes the three-story, 6,000-square-foot home as "stately, elegant" and "luxurious," with "architectural details" that include a "grand marble-floored entrance with a sweeping staircase," an antique crystal chandelier and a Carrara marble fireplace, all of which are "heirlooms from one of the original family homes in Memphis." Many items were moved from Ashlar Hall on Central Avenue, a castle-like structure built in 1896 by Brinkley Snowden.

"Snowden" is among the most prominent names in regional and local history, as evidenced by the presence of Midtown's Snowden Avenue and Snowden School. Martha McKay was the granddaughter of Grace Snowden and Robert Snowden, a business investor and real estate developer who once bought and sold The Peabody Hotel "within hours," as reported by The Commercial Appeal.

In a 2015 interview titled "The Lady of the Lake," Martha McKay told Memphis magazine that growing up on Horseshoe Lake had been "just wonderful."

"I felt like I was royalty, with the big house and servants," she said. "Everything was fresh from the garden, fresh eggs and all, and we even had a peach orchard. We got to swim every day, and it was just ideal."

The property also served as a location for the 1994 movie adaptation of the John Grisham murder mystery, "The Client."

Wednesday's events will open wounds that may still feel fresh to Memphians who remember the 1996 murders, which resonated around the world because of the cult fame of Baker. A distinctive guitarist with an original style honed in the presence of one of his mentors, bluesman Furry Lewis, Baker had been a key member from the 1960s until his death of such influential Memphis bands as Moloch and Mud Boy & the Neutrons. In addition, he performed on albums by Big Star, Alex Chilton and Jim Dickinson.

Lewis — who lived at Horseshoe Lake and whose parents lived on Snowden-owned property — pleaded guilty to the two murders on April 7, 1998, the day his Circuit Court trial was about to begin in Marion, Arkansas. He was sentenced to 28 1/2 years. "The families felt it would be traumatic to go through a trial," the deputy prosecutor told The Commercial Appeal at the time.