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Southern Fried true crime covers cases that
are not suitable for young listeners, and

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there may also be some explicit language
used. Listener discretion is advised. September

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one, twenty sixteen, was a
warm and partly cloudy afternoon in central Kentucky.

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Fifty two year old Ronda Oakley pulled
in her driveway in Junction City at

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around three pm. She was home
early after attending a conference in Louisville the

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day before. She loved her job
and had fun at the conference, but

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she and her husband, Philip had
missed each other, even though it was

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just one night apart. Though they
had been married a couple of years,

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they were practically still in their honeymoon
phase, and Ronda had recently become a

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full time stepmother. She hadn't expected
to be parenting again at her age,

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but she happily took on the role
and loved her husband's kids like they were

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her own. Ronda had adult children
of her own, who had all long

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since flown the nest. Philip Oakeley
had two children from his previous marriage,

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a daughter fifteen year old Jenna and
son thirteen year old David. They had

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been living in Arlington, Indiana,
with their mother, Christie, but a

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few months earlier, Jenna had asked
if she could move in with her dad.

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Philip had told his children his door
was always open, so he was

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glad to have Jenna come live with
him, and her brother David decided to

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come with her. The children had
adjusted to their new school, and for

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Philip it was a chance to develop
a deeper relationship with his kids. He

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and Ronda were intent on providing a
warm and supportive environment where they hoped the

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kids would thrive. But just five
months after Jenna and David moved on that

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warm late summer afternoon, Ronda Oakley
was found viciously murdered. Welcome to episode

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two twenty, The Murder of Ronda
Oakley. Ronda Denise Rains was born on

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March fifth, nineteen sixty four,
to parents Howard and Mabel. She and

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her older sister, Patty grew up
in Liberty, a town in Casey County,

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Kentucky. Sadly, in nineteen seventy
one, when Ronda was just seven

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years old, her father, Howard, passed away. In December nineteen eighty

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one, seventeen year old Ronda married
a twenty two year old young man named

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Bobby Joe and graduated from Casey County
High School in May the following year.

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The couple had a son and daughter, Joey and Jennifer. This marriage didn't

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last long, and young Ronda went
on to marry again to a man named

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Donald, and she had three more
children, Courtney, Caitlin, and Daniel.

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Unfortunately, this marriage didn't last either. Now a single mom to five

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children, Ronda worked hard to give
her kids a good life. She was

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a customer service manager at R.
R. Donnelly in Danville, Kentucky,

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where she had worked happily for thirty
years. She was respected and very well

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liked by her co workers. Bronda's
family and friends say she was outgoing,

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bubbly, and known for being generous
and loving, the kind of friendly lady

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who never met a stranger, and
for a while she wasn't interested in another

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husband. She just wanted to take
care of her kids. Frankly, she

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was probably too busy working and raising
kids to focus on her love life.

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But by two thousand and eight,
with all her kids moved out, the

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forty four year old was enjoying taking
time for herself and exploring the possibility of

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findal love again. One day,
sitting at the bar in Danville's Old Bridge

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Golf Club, Ronda met thirty seven
year old Philip Oakley. Philip was a

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quieter personality than Ronda, much more
reserved, but opposites often attract, and

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pretty much from the day they met, Ronda and Philip were inseparable, and

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they had more in common than just
golf. Philip, who worked as a

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production supervisor, was also divorced and
a single parent, though it was part

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time and his kids were still little
elementary school ages. In two thousand and

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eight, Jenna would have been about
seven and David five. The Oakley kids

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lived in Arlington, Indiana with their
mom, Christy Woodpoe, but Philip maintains

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he had a close relationship with them. He saw his children every other weekend.

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It was a three hour drive six
total for just a two day visit,

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but he said he was close to
his children and loved having them home

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with him. That drive was definitely
worth it for everyone, and his new

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wife, Ronda soon loved spending time
with his kids as a family. On

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December twenty seventh, twenty thirteen,
Philip and Ronda tied the knot in a

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low key ceremony. They looked forward
to blending their families and spending the rest

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of their lives together. For a
while, it was mostly just them too.

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They worked and spent a lot of
that wonderful newlywent time together. Ronda

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was totally devoted to the couple's three
docks and dogs, Cinderella, Jonas,

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and Oliver, and by the time
they were married, Ronda had four grand

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babies, soon to be five.
Like most grandparents, Ronda adored those babies

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and had close relationships with all her
kids. She and Philip lived in a

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small town called Junction City on the
outskirts of Danville. The population has hovered

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under twenty three hundred people for the
last couple of decades. Junction City and

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Greater Danville are nestled in the beautiful
rolling hills of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky,

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where agriculture is still the main industry, especially horse breeding. You get

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all four seasons in this gorgeous area. They still get the hot and humid

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southern summers, but they have actual
autumns and springs, unlike states further south.

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Danville is known as the birthplace of
bluegrass, and it's also a college

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town home to the Liberal Arts School
Center College. I also live in a

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small community outside of a college town. We not only have our own community

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Facebook group, my neighborhood even has
its own group. We look out for

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each other and feel very safe out
here. Junction City is a lot like

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that. Neighbors know each other's business
but also look out for each other,

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and it's a really safe place to
live. On a scale of one to

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one hundred, Junction City ranks at
seven point two, and its crime rate

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not to be a smarty pants,
but there's not much crime because there's not

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much to do. Oh, there's
plenty of outdoor activities and creeks and woods,

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But when you go to websites even
local message boards, most things listed

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are for nearby towns and cities,
which is just fine because if you want

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to buy a house, they're actually
still affordable Injunction City. It's definitely still

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a seller's market, but you can
certainly get more out of a house there

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for your dollars. And I did
see a couple of million dollar homes,

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but they're not really mansions. Their
price is based on hundreds of acreage on

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those properties. Lots of folks like
living in small towns for these very reasons

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they can commute to larger cities while
having a nice house and or lots of

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land to come home to. Not
that Danville would really be much of a

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commute it takes a little over two
ten minutes to get there, date nights

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in Danville would have been easy for
Philip and Ronda. A little over two

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years into their marriage, in April
twenty sixteen, was when fifteen year old

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Jenna decided she wanted to live with
her dad after she had been fighting with

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her mom. As promised, Philip's
store was always open to his daughter.

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Philip and Ronda welcomed the teen into
their home without question, with thirteen year

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old David soon joining his sister.
Philip and Ronda both wanted to provide as

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safe and stable a new home for
their children as possible. While many kids

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struggled to adjust to a new home, environment and social setting, the Oakly

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children were really doing well. Jenna
was a good student and cheerleader at Boyle

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County High School. Philip was overwhelmed
with the kindness, support, and generosity

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Ronda showed towards her two step children, later telling WBRD News if there was

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a book written about the perfect wife
the perfect mother, the perfect nana that

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would be my wife. I know
she made me a better person. She

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changed my life. I'm going to
pause now for a short commercial break.

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That September first, David rode the
bus home from school and was dropped off

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at four pm. When he got
there, no one else was home.

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Jenna wasn't home from school yet,
and his dad was still at work.

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His stepmom, Ronda, should be
on her way home from out of town.

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She had been at that conference in
Louisville. Before starting his homework,

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David loaded the dishwasher, which was
one of his chores. He could hear

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the dogs barking and howling from down
in the basement. No one else was

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home, so it was odd that
they were making such a racket. When

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David went downstairs to see what the
thus was about, he could see the

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dogs were scratching at the spare bedroom
door. There were two bedrooms, Jenna's

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in this room that the dogs were
barking at. Opening the door and turning

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on the light, David was confronted
with a gruesome sight. Ronda's body lay

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face up, motionless on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her head.

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A panic and I'm sure hysterical.
David ran next door, where a

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neighbor called nine one one. When
officers arrived, they found Ronda had been

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brutally attacked, stabbed multiple times on
her neck. There was a trash bag

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over her face and duct tape on
her mouth. The cops opened Jenna's door

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and saw a trash can with vomit
in it. There was no sign of

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a murder weapon, but upstairs the
knife block in the kitchen was missing a

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knife. Philip soon pulled into the
driveway coming home from work. David had

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our what he called his cell phone, so he was in a panic.

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Daddy Ronda's gone was all the kid
could get out. Seeing first responders vehicles

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and his distraught son outside the house, his stomach dropped. When Kentucky State

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Police broke the news that Ronda had
been murdered, the shock and pain had

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filled up like a ton of bricks. His wife was the most generous,

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giving person he had ever met.
Everyone loved her. Why would someone want

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to kill her and in such a
vicious way. That kind of attack didn't

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look like a run of the mill
robbery. There were no signs of forced

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entry, so it didn't seem like
a break in or home invasion, but

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still robbery could be a motive.
Ronda's twenty fourteen white Honda Civic was missing

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from the driveway, so a BOLO
was issued for the vehicle. So far,

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the car looked like the only thing
missing except for fifteen year old Jenna

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had been at work all day,
so he wasn't a suspect. He was

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with law enforcement doing everything he could
to help. He told police that he

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had gotten a message from Boyle County
High School that Jenna was absent. He

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had thought she was homesick. Now
he and the police were worried that Jenna

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had witnessed the murder and had been
abducted. As the hours passed and Jenna

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didn't show up or call, Philip
later said he just knew in his gut

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almost right away that he knew who
did this. He told police about Jenna's

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ex boyfriend, twenty year old Kenneth
Ryan Nye, who was from Arlington,

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Indiana. The couple had been dating
for several years, back from when Jenna

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was living there with her mom.
They rode the same school bus, though

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they would have been several grades apart
at the time they met. Jenna would

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have been twelve years old at most, and Kenneth seventeen okay, sidebar,

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almost a legal adult. Kenneth committed
a crime by grooming this supposedly romantic relationship

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with a child. I say supposedly
because at that age you're just not old

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enough to understand and participate in actual
romantic love. I mean, seriously,

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some girls at twelve years old have
not even had their first period. Sexual

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contact with children that age is and
should be a crime. However, there

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are Romeo and Juliet laws or practices
in many states. Authorities take into consideration

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that there's a difference between an almost
grown man and a preteen and say a

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relationship between a fifteen and seventeen year
old named after Shakespeare's Young Lovers. Romeo

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and Juliet exceptions protect young adults from
prosecution when they are in a consensual relationship

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with someone close in age. So
these laws basically take the age to deface

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friends and count the years. Four
to five years is typically the cutoff for

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authorities to step in, but along
with the five year age gap, children

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under twelve years of age cannot consent
to a sexual relationship. In twenty sixteen,

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in Kentucky, the age of consent
was sixteen years old, and there

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were no Romeo and Juliet laws.
In effect, that means that any individual

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who engaged in sexual conduct with a
minor under sixteen could face prosecution for statutory

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rape. For the record, in
Indiana, the cutoff is four years.

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Indiana's Romeo and Juliet law allows fourteen
and fifteen year olds to consent to sexual

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activity with their peers under certain conditions. So Jenna's mother definitely could have pressed

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charges. We will get into that
more later. At this point it doesn't

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matter for this case, but before
I get corrected, as of February twenty

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twenty four, Kentucky does have Romeo
and Juliet laws right now, when a

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child is fourteen or fifteen and the
partner is younger than twenty one, the

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Romeo and Juliet exception would apply,
and Jenna and Kenneth would have been in

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the right age range. As much
as we might not like it, I

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just wanted to give you an overview
of what Philip and Ronda could have done,

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as well as what Jenna's mother,
Christie, could have done when the

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relationship first began legally. But there
is also this there are Romeo and Juliet

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laws, and then there is the
Romeo and Juliet effect. Try to split

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up a young couple and you just
push them closer together. Tearing them apart

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makes them become more infatuated with each
other. Having said that what Kenneth and

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I was doing was criminal, and
as a parent, I would have reacted

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exactly how Philip and Ronda do,
but you do run the risk of Juliette

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digging her heel. When Philip and
Ronda learned about the inappropriate relationship after Jenna

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moved to Kentucky, they were immediately
concerned. They banned Jenna from having contact

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with Kenneth and confiscated her cell phone. Philip called Kenny and threatened to report

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him to the police, which seemed
to do the trick. Both Kenny and

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Jenna seemed to take Philip and Ronda's
concerns seriously and agreed to part ways.

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Philip said he called Kenny directly told
him to leave his daughter alone, and

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threatened him with statutory rape charges.
He said Kenny sounded genuine when he agreed

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to no longer see Jenna. Many
parents might have pressed charges, hell I

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might have, but it really can
make things much worse. You don't want

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to alienate your kid even more by
pressing charges. You will seem much more

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reasonable and forgiving if you give them
a chance to do the right thing and

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end the relationship willingly. But there's
no doubt it is a complex problem to

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have with a young teen, and
parents have to make the call they believe

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is right. Okay, sidebar over. After Philip explained the situation with his

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daughter to the police, the priority
for detectives was finding Jenna and tracking down

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Kenneth Nye, if only to eliminate
him as a suspect. After graduating from

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high school, Kinney had enlisted in
the Army and was now stationed at Fort

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Carson, Colorado. He might have
an alibi. According to military records,

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he was on active duty, So
could he have really driven almost twelve hundred

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00:17:38,799 --> 00:17:42,920
miles to kidnap Jenna after being out
of contact with her for so long.

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But a detective from the Kentucky State
Police named Frank Thrownberry was an ex mariine,

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so he gave the Fort Carson base
a call and asked for a favor.

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He found out that Kenny had changed
his mind about the army. In

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fact, He had recently applied for
a discharge on the basis of being a

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conscientious objector, but then he found
out that if he failed his fitness test,

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he could be discharged more quickly.
When he intentionally failed all of his

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physical fitness tests, he received a
dishonorable discharge on August thirty first, the

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day before Ronda's murder. After his
discharge, the Army paid for a flight

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back to Indiana and even dropped him
off at the airport, but investigators learned

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that at the last minute, his
ticket was changed. At three thirty pm

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the same day as his discharge,
Kenneth arrived at the Bluegrass Airport in Lexington,

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Kentucky, about a fifty minute drive
from Danville. Had Kenny decided to

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surprise Jenna before heading back to Indiana. CCTV footage from the airport tracked Kenney

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from his gate all the way outside
to the taxi and rideshare area. That's

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00:19:04,319 --> 00:19:08,839
one thing about more modern cases.
It is sometimes amazing how far you can

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00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:15,880
be followed on CCTV as long as
detectives are willing to patiently search through footage,

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and in this case they will.
But the trail ended here when Kenny

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took an Uber instead of a cab, but at least they were now sure

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that Kenny and I was in Kentucky
and they had a recent photo of him.

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00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:34,200
From the footage, detectives decided to
release details to the media about fifteen

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00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:38,759
year old Jenna Oakley. This was
not an Amber alert, but bulletins on

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00:19:38,799 --> 00:19:47,640
the news stations. Luckily, an
uber driver remembered Kenneth Nye he had picked

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him up from the airport. The
driver told detectives he remembered a guy named

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Kenny and where he dropped him off, on the street where the Oakleys lived.

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He remembered Kenny saying he had just
left the Army that he was visiting

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some old friends who lived just down
the street. The driver thought it was

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strange that he didn't want him to
pull up to the door, but Kenny

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said he wanted to surprise his friends
and to drop him off at the end

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of the street. They lived on
Old Houstonville Road. That was on the

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afternoon of August thirty first, about
twenty four hours before Rhonda's murder. I'm

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00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:33,519
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shipping. Limited time only exclusions apply. Sea site for details. Detective set

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to work tracking Kinney's cell phone if
they could locate him. Hopefully they would

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00:24:02,559 --> 00:24:07,400
find Jenna safe and unharmed. Soon, Kenny cel pinged in the city of

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00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:14,160
Glasgow, about one hundred miles southwest
of Danville. A description of Jenna had

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00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:18,279
already been released as a potential abductee. Now another BOLO was issued, this

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00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:23,880
time for both Jenna and her ex
boyfriend. But Kenny's cell phone was moving

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00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:30,599
and was next picked up around IS
sixty five near Nashville, Tennessee. Unfortunately,

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00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:37,119
investigators were not receiving the location information
in real time to determine what route

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00:24:37,279 --> 00:24:41,400
Kenneth might be taking. By the
time they got the notification of a new

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00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:47,240
location, there was a delay of
up to forty five minutes. According to

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00:24:47,279 --> 00:24:51,279
Kinney's cell phone carrier. This was
because the phone was being turned on and

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00:24:51,319 --> 00:24:56,279
off. By the next day,
a tip came in reporting a sighting of

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00:24:56,359 --> 00:25:00,759
Jenna. A Walmart store manager in
Danville called and meant to say that on

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00:25:00,799 --> 00:25:06,480
September first, the teen was spotted
in their store. When law enforcement reviewed

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00:25:06,519 --> 00:25:14,480
the CCTV footage, Jenna could clearly
be seen and accompanying her was Kenneth and

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00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:18,400
I. He was wearing the same
T shirt he had on at the airport.

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00:25:18,839 --> 00:25:22,400
It's still broad daylight in the footage
as they walk into the store,

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00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:30,839
probably not long after Ronda's murder.
Jenna didn't appear injured or distressed, and

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00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,279
her body language was relaxed as she
made her way around the store with Guiney.

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00:25:36,039 --> 00:25:40,400
She certainly didn't look like she was
being held against her will or coerced

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00:25:40,559 --> 00:25:45,279
in any way. She touched Kenny's
arm in an intimate gesture as they walked

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00:25:45,279 --> 00:25:51,400
through the store, and Jenna was
walking ahead of Kenny like she knew where

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00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:56,240
she was going. They bought a
phone charger, and Detective Thrownberry said,

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the closer he watched, he noticed
they walked quickly and looked stressed. They

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00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,440
walked out of the store back into
the parking lot and got into a car

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00:26:06,839 --> 00:26:11,960
that looked very much like Ronda's missing
Honda and drove off. In one way,

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00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:17,640
Jenna's demeanor from the footage was a
relief for detectives and her family to

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00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:22,440
know that she was okay, but
it raised a lot of other troubling questions.

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00:26:22,799 --> 00:26:26,880
What did Jenna know about Ronda's murder
despite her age, Could she possibly

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00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,680
have been involved in the murder?
Why has she left home and not made

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00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:37,480
contact with her father? The answers
quickly came together as officers searched Jenna's bedroom

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00:26:37,799 --> 00:26:42,359
and found her journal. In an
entry day to July seventh, less than

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00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:47,559
two months earlier, she had written, I just got done talking to him

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00:26:47,599 --> 00:26:51,240
a few moments ago, and I
feel so much better than what I did.

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00:26:51,839 --> 00:26:55,960
The latest we will be together is
August twentieth. I really can't wait.

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00:26:56,599 --> 00:26:59,960
Every doubt that I've had these last
days are gone. I love him

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00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,720
so much, and I know he
loves me too. The he Jenna was

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00:27:03,759 --> 00:27:07,960
writing about was Kenneth Nye, and
despite what the couple had led Philip and

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00:27:08,039 --> 00:27:12,559
Ronda to believe, they had not
broken up at all, at least from

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00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:18,960
Jenna's perspective, they were very much
intent on being together, with Kenny taking

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00:27:18,039 --> 00:27:23,640
active steps for them to be reunited. Jenna wasn't worried about her father and

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00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:30,519
stepmother's objections to the relationship, writing
in one of several chilling entries, they'll

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00:27:30,519 --> 00:27:37,480
be dead soon, thankfully. Going
a sinister step further, Jenna had also

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00:27:37,559 --> 00:27:41,119
set out a detailed bullet point list
of how her plan would be executed,

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00:27:41,559 --> 00:27:48,960
which read as follows. Kill Philip
first between four am and five am two

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00:27:48,079 --> 00:27:53,319
knives prepared with me. Kill David, last, kill Ronda. Second,

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00:27:53,759 --> 00:28:00,319
between six am and eight am.
Kill David in his room. Ask Philip

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00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,599
to go downstairs real quick. Then
as we're going down, slice his neck

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00:28:03,599 --> 00:28:08,960
in the front, walk into Ronda's
bedroom and stab her. Stab David in

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00:28:10,039 --> 00:28:15,240
his bed. Another grizzly to do
list noted, let him know about my

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00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:19,160
plan, have a bag packed and
prepared, have a knife prepared. Stabbed

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00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:26,720
them. The blind, hatred and
callousness of Jenna's journal was shocking. Philip

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00:28:26,759 --> 00:28:30,759
now knew there was no way his
daughter was innocent or that she had been

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00:28:30,799 --> 00:28:37,559
abducted. It was obvious she had
had a roll in Ronda's murder, but

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00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:44,559
how much did she actually kill Ronda
or did Kenny. Throughout September second,

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00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:48,440
investigators could tell from the pings from
Kenney's cell that he and Jenna were covering

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00:28:48,519 --> 00:28:53,559
a lot of ground as they headed
west. They continued through Tennessee, into

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00:28:53,640 --> 00:29:00,759
Missouri, Arkansas, and then Oklahoma. That was until September third, when

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00:29:00,799 --> 00:29:06,440
they apparently stopped. They peemed in
the same place for a while, but

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00:29:07,079 --> 00:29:11,519
they were now over one thousand miles
away in Tuocambe Carey, New Mexico.

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00:29:11,759 --> 00:29:17,640
Kentucky State Police contacted the touocamb Carrey
Police Department, who were soon on the

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00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:22,359
lookout for Ronda's Honda and the two
fugitives. Kinney's cell phone pings placed the

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00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:27,000
vehicle, possibly at a truck stop, so local officers swung into action.

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00:29:29,759 --> 00:29:33,000
That night, in the parking lot
of a motel six along Route sixty six

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00:29:33,039 --> 00:29:41,039
Boulevard, Corporal Cody Birch spotted a
vehicle matching the description and license plates approaching

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00:29:41,039 --> 00:29:45,200
in the darkness. He shined his
flashlight into the car and saw a young

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00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:51,079
couple inside who appeared to be asleep. The girl was leaning against the guy,

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kind of cuddled up, but when
she saw the light, she jumped

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00:29:55,200 --> 00:30:00,400
back straight into the driver's seat.
Ignoring the officer's instruction to roll down her

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00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:06,119
window. She started the car.
Corporal Birch drew his weapon, keeping it

346
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,720
safely pointed at the ground, and
he could see the young man talking to

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00:30:08,759 --> 00:30:15,240
the girl. After a few moments, the engines shut off. When back

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00:30:15,279 --> 00:30:18,920
up arrived, Jenna and Kenny were
arrested. They willingly stepped out of the

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00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:25,279
vehicle with their hands in the air. Burch said Kenny seemed resigned to his

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00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:30,359
fate, but Jenna was distressed.
She was crying, but she told officers

351
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:36,000
right away who her boyfriend was,
Kenny Ny, she said. The cop

352
00:30:36,079 --> 00:30:40,160
later said she was wailing over and
over. Tell Kenny, I love him.

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00:30:40,559 --> 00:30:44,880
Make sure you tell him I love
him. If you watch the footage,

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00:30:45,079 --> 00:30:48,359
this isn't the confident young woman who
walked through Walmart. It's a crying

355
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:56,039
teenager. They were separated and taken
into custody. Kenny was charged with contributing

356
00:30:56,079 --> 00:31:00,680
to the delinquency of a miner,
and both were charged with possessing stolen property.

357
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:06,880
Jenna was put into juvenile detention while
Kenny was taken to the Quay County

358
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,839
Jail. Inside Ronda's car, New
Mexico State Police found the mess of two

359
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:15,920
people who had been living in the
car while they were on the run.

360
00:31:17,079 --> 00:31:21,599
Clothes, snacks, energy drinks,
food wrappers, and empty bottles were strewn

361
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:26,160
all over the car. Just thirty
six hours later, on September fifth,

362
00:31:26,279 --> 00:31:33,000
two days before Ronda's funeral, Philip
learned that Kenny had been released. According

363
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:38,039
to online prison records, Ronda's family
was anxiously watching the website waiting for Kenny

364
00:31:38,079 --> 00:31:44,000
and Jenna to be extradited. Some
news reports even stated Kenneth had been bonded

365
00:31:44,039 --> 00:31:49,039
out, but this wasn't true.
When Kentucky State Police found out what was

366
00:31:49,039 --> 00:31:55,039
behind the reports, it somewhat set
Philip's mind at ease. Kenny and I

367
00:31:55,079 --> 00:32:00,240
had not been released. He had
been transported to a hospital in Texas was

368
00:32:00,279 --> 00:32:05,640
in critical condition. Within hours of
being taken to jail, he had hanged

369
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:09,039
himself with his blanket. He was
still alive, but was now on life

370
00:32:09,039 --> 00:32:15,359
support. Inside his jail cell was
a note which read, I Kenneth Nye

371
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:20,839
admit to killing Ronda Oakley. Jenna
had nothing to do with it. She

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00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,720
was not in the house when I
killed Ronda. I take blame for everything.

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00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:30,599
I am truly sorry. The note
was a convenient way for Jenna to

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00:32:30,599 --> 00:32:35,519
be absolved of any responsibility in Ronda's
murder, but the idea that she was

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00:32:35,599 --> 00:32:42,000
totally blameless didn't job with the calculated
and premeditated journal entries planning the murder of

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00:32:42,039 --> 00:32:46,559
her whole family. Investigators held back
on telling Jenna what had happened to her

377
00:32:46,599 --> 00:32:52,480
boyfriend until she could be formally questioned
by Kentucky State Police. If by some

378
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:58,279
chance, she admitted to being the
orchestrator. This would prove Kinney was lying

379
00:32:58,319 --> 00:33:04,559
in the note. On September twelfth, Jenna was extradited to Kentucky and held

380
00:33:04,599 --> 00:33:09,279
without bond. Kentucky State detectives said
she was informed of her rights and that

381
00:33:09,359 --> 00:33:16,839
Philip agreed to the interview. Jenna
confessed to everything. She confirmed that her

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00:33:16,839 --> 00:33:22,400
relationship with kenny Ny never ended and
that she continued to communicate with him by

383
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:29,359
using a friend's cell phone while she
was at school. Jenna also admitted that

384
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,240
the night before Rondo was murdered,
Kinny secretly spent the night with her in

385
00:33:32,279 --> 00:33:38,559
her bedroom after taking that uber to
the house. Jenna even said she had

386
00:33:38,599 --> 00:33:44,680
taken the knife some time in the
night before so they would be ready the

387
00:33:44,759 --> 00:33:49,200
next morning. Philip headed off to
work as usual and Dylan went to school

388
00:33:49,519 --> 00:33:52,559
while Rondo was still out of town. She was due back that evening,

389
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:59,559
but Jenna stayed home from school with
Kenny hiding in her room. They hung

390
00:33:59,559 --> 00:34:04,359
out and the downstairs area of the
house, but were startled around three pm

391
00:34:04,599 --> 00:34:08,280
when they heard Ronda arrive home earlier
than expected and was walking down to the

392
00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:16,320
basement. She was carrying a laundry
basket and walked into Jenna's bedroom. Kenny

393
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:21,960
jumped in the closet to hide as
Ronda walked in. She was surprised to

394
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:27,119
see Jenna and immediately asked why she
wasn't in school, which started an argument

395
00:34:27,559 --> 00:34:32,199
that quickly escalated into a physical fight. Jenna told detectives she could see that

396
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:37,480
Ronda was about to get smart with
her, and so she basically jumped her

397
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:43,360
stepmother. She was trying to strangle
Ronda, but told detectives Kenny had to

398
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:46,000
jump out of the closet and help
her because Ronda was bigger than her.

399
00:34:47,119 --> 00:34:52,599
He put Ronda in a chokehold and
she seemed to pass out, and then

400
00:34:52,599 --> 00:34:58,400
they dragged her into the other bedroom. Jenna said she covered Ronda's mouth with

401
00:34:58,559 --> 00:35:02,280
duct tape and put the bag over
her head, and then she explained how

402
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:06,960
she stabbed her in the neck.
The knife didn't go in as easily as

403
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:12,960
she thought it would, so she
stabbed her up to seven times. Jenna's

404
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:20,199
telling of Ronda's murder was cold and
detached. Detective Thrunburry said, usually when

405
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:25,440
you question juveniles, they're very emotional, but Jenna wasn't. She even mentioned

406
00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:30,119
that Kenny was freaking out and puked
in her garbage can. I guess she

407
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:35,880
was fine. You can hear the
actual recording on the episode of See No

408
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,440
Evil about this case. You can't
see her for visual nuances, but she

409
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:46,599
does sound very matter of fact.
Jenna told detectives that they fled in Ronda's

410
00:35:46,599 --> 00:35:51,599
car, then stopped at a gas
station where she threw the murder weapon in

411
00:35:51,639 --> 00:35:54,840
a trash can. She did cry
once in the recording, as she said,

412
00:35:55,440 --> 00:36:00,280
I guess you hear this a lot, and the detective said what she

413
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:05,400
said, I'm sorry. Then she
dried up immediately. Somehow, I doubt

414
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:10,159
there are actual tears on her face. When it came time to answer her

415
00:36:10,199 --> 00:36:16,280
own father's painful questions about why Ronda
was killed, Jenna admitted everything to Philip

416
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:22,119
too. Philip waited to call his
daughter until she was awaiting trial, and

417
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:28,719
basically just asked her, why why
didn't she just run away with Kenny.

418
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:34,000
Why did they have to kill Ronda. She told him it wasn't that simple

419
00:36:34,559 --> 00:36:38,199
and it was hard to explain.
Philip asked her if she was really going

420
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:43,280
to kill him, and she said
yes. She also said she planned to

421
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:49,800
kill her little brother David and She
became exasperated on the call and repeatedly said,

422
00:36:50,199 --> 00:36:54,000
what do you want from me?
Philip couldn't believe what he was hearing.

423
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:59,679
He was seething, angry. It's
hard to explain. Was just not

424
00:36:59,679 --> 00:37:02,599
going to cut it when it came
to the brutal murder of his beloved wife,

425
00:37:04,039 --> 00:37:08,639
not even from his own daughter.
While little information had been released to

426
00:37:08,679 --> 00:37:14,480
the public about suspects or the progress
of the case, Philip did speak to

427
00:37:14,519 --> 00:37:19,960
several news outlets saying he privately knew
who was responsible and the two people that

428
00:37:20,039 --> 00:37:27,719
did this are monsters. Not much
later, Philip was publicly unequivocal and how

429
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:32,239
he felt about Jenna, saying I
hate my daughter. I want the hardest

430
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:37,039
thing to happen to my daughter.
Ever, I just don't care. I'm

431
00:37:37,039 --> 00:37:39,280
worried about the people that I need
to protect, and that's not one of

432
00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:44,440
them. This never should have happened. I can't bring my wife back,

433
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,679
but I can sure us health fight
to let everyone know that the system failed

434
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:54,840
us. There's other people that I
consider responsible for this too. I'm going

435
00:37:54,840 --> 00:38:00,840
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M E D E O d O
r a nt dot com. Ronda Rains

482
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:35,199
Oakley was laid to rest on September
seventh after her funeral service at Southland Christian

483
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:39,519
Church in Danville. In her obituary, all of her children and their spouses

484
00:41:39,559 --> 00:41:45,320
were named, including her step son
David Oakley, but not Jenna. Of

485
00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:51,320
course, Ronda's five small grandchildren were
also named. These babies who had been

486
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:57,360
such a joy to her. The
obituary even mentions her poor little dogs as

487
00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:00,199
a dog lover. As soon as
I read about the scene, I couldn't

488
00:42:00,199 --> 00:42:05,039
help but wonder if they had seen
what happened to their human mamma. It

489
00:42:05,119 --> 00:42:12,320
was their barking that alerted David to
his stepmother's body downstairs. On October twentieth,

490
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:16,719
a grand jury indicted Jenna Oakley in
Boyle Circuit Court for complicity to murder

491
00:42:17,079 --> 00:42:22,039
and complicity to theft by unlawful taking. She would be tried as an adult.

492
00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:28,000
Her boyfriend, who had been on
life support, was facing charges of

493
00:42:28,039 --> 00:42:32,159
harboring a minor, but Kenneth would
never see the inside of a court room

494
00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:37,360
because just a couple of days before
Jenna was indicted, he died, having

495
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:45,000
never been removed from the respirator.
It wasn't until Jenna's arraignment in early December,

496
00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:49,440
where she pled not guilty, that
she learned for the first time that

497
00:42:49,599 --> 00:42:52,360
not only was her boyfriend dead,
but that he had been in a coma

498
00:42:52,599 --> 00:43:00,000
since their arrest. She screamed and
wailed in court when she was told detectives

499
00:43:00,199 --> 00:43:05,199
they could hear her from the hallway. Now Jenna was all alone and would

500
00:43:05,199 --> 00:43:10,360
be the sole suspect to face trial. Following the indictment, Philip told ABC

501
00:43:10,519 --> 00:43:15,159
News the whole time, I knew
who did this, and so no,

502
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:22,239
it is not a surprise. She
deserves everything she gets. Over two years

503
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:27,920
later, in a pre trial hearing
in January twenty nineteen, police officers testified

504
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:32,199
about Jenna's demeanor and behavior on her
way back to Kentucky after she arrived.

505
00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:37,480
The defense was doing its best to
have Jenna's confession thrown out on the basis

506
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:43,079
that she wasn't in the presence of
an attorney during her first interview. Despite

507
00:43:43,119 --> 00:43:49,920
Philip, her parent and legal guardian, giving his permission. Detectives also maintained

508
00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:54,880
that they explained Jenna's rights to her. During those two years awaiting trial,

509
00:43:55,360 --> 00:44:00,559
Jenna had been kept in a juvenile
facility getting mental health treatment as her appointed

510
00:44:00,559 --> 00:44:06,280
defense team investigated her past, trying
to find out how a fifteen year old

511
00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:12,480
could become such a cold killer.
And on the other side, the Commonwealth's

512
00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:17,679
attorney was concerned about the conflicting confessions. All they had from Kenny was his

513
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:23,159
note and it was pretty definitive.
They certainly had Jenna on tape and video,

514
00:44:23,639 --> 00:44:28,559
but she could say the same thing
that she was protecting Kenny and taking

515
00:44:28,599 --> 00:44:34,480
the blame. Also, the Commonwealth
wasn't sure how a jury would feel about

516
00:44:34,519 --> 00:44:37,840
such a young defendant. The judge
had ruled she would be tried as an

517
00:44:37,840 --> 00:44:43,480
adult, but that doesn't mean a
jury will see it that way. So

518
00:44:43,599 --> 00:44:47,800
they decided to offer her a plea
deal. She would plead guilty to first

519
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:54,039
degree manslaughter and theft by taking for
stealing Rhonda's car. She could be sentenced

520
00:44:54,039 --> 00:44:59,159
to ten years in prison for manslaughter
and five for the car. Can you

521
00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:02,599
believe that? Forget about Jenna for
a minute, ten years for taking a

522
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:08,800
human life, five for taking a
car. A couple of months shy of

523
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:16,360
her eighteenth birthday, Jenna Pauline Wood
Oakley pled guilty on January fourteenth, twenty

524
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:23,159
nineteen, to first degree manslaughter and
theft by taking. At a pre sentencing

525
00:45:23,239 --> 00:45:30,280
hearing the following month before Boyle Circuit
Judge Darren Peckler, Jenna expressed remorse,

526
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:35,400
saying, I cannot tell you how
sorry I am for all the pain,

527
00:45:35,519 --> 00:45:39,320
hurt and great frustration that it has
caused. I cannot tell you how sorry

528
00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:44,039
I am that I did not try
to save her that day. I have

529
00:45:44,119 --> 00:45:47,840
come to accept accountability for my inaction
of not trying to help and save her

530
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:53,920
that day when she needed most to
be saved. So despite the plea,

531
00:45:54,079 --> 00:45:58,800
she was still saying she didn't kill
Rhonda. She's saying Kenny did it,

532
00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:02,760
but she was responsible for her death
because she didn't try to stop him.

533
00:46:04,199 --> 00:46:07,559
Philip didn't buy any of it.
At no stage had his daughter apologized or

534
00:46:07,599 --> 00:46:12,920
demonstrated remorse over what she had done. This was the first he had heard

535
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:16,480
any contrition. Now that Jenna's future
was on the line, suddenly she had

536
00:46:16,519 --> 00:46:22,360
found the words she couldn't manage to
say to her own father, and usually

537
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:29,840
during the elocution phase, the defendant
must explicitly admit, specifically and in detail

538
00:46:30,159 --> 00:46:36,199
the actions and their reasons in exchange
for a reduced sentence. Jenna didn't do

539
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:38,679
that. I don't know what went
on behind the plea deal, but this

540
00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:45,639
doesn't seem right. Outside court,
Philip said, I just don't think it's

541
00:46:45,679 --> 00:46:49,719
fair. Jenna is a very intelligent
girl, and to be able to tell

542
00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:52,400
me she didn't know what she was
doing, I'll never believe that. I

543
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:57,840
hate what she did. I don't
necessarily hate my daughter. I want to

544
00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:00,719
be able to forgive my daughter,
but I just I don't know how.

545
00:47:00,079 --> 00:47:06,639
I haven't figured that out yet.
Jenna was facing a maximum of fifteen years

546
00:47:06,639 --> 00:47:10,840
in prison, according to the Lexington
Herald Leader. Given Jenna's age and her

547
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:15,880
guilty plea, three sentencing options were
open to the court. She could receive

548
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:22,199
probation or conditional discharge, be committed
to the Department of Juvenile Justice to complete

549
00:47:22,199 --> 00:47:28,239
a treatment program, or she could
be sent to a state prison. The

550
00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:32,159
defense request did the court consider committing
Jenna to treatment with the Department of Juvenile

551
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:38,119
Justice instead of sending her to prison. However, Philip was adamant about what

552
00:47:38,199 --> 00:47:43,000
he felt was appropriate, telling the
newspaper, I think they've had two and

553
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,440
a half years to seek treatment.
If they wanted treatment, she needs to

554
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:52,559
go to prison. That's what she
deserves. It wasn't until Jenna's final sentencing

555
00:47:52,599 --> 00:47:58,280
hearing two months later in March that
more details emerged of how concerned Philip and

556
00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:01,400
Ronda had been about the teen's own
for all behavior and the months leading up

557
00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:07,039
to the murder. Jenna was well
behaved at school, where she was well

558
00:48:07,159 --> 00:48:13,079
liked by her teachers, but at
home she was defiant and disobedient. Philip

559
00:48:13,079 --> 00:48:16,480
had wondered if they should send her
to some sort of residential program for troubled

560
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:22,440
teens, but Ronda wanted Jenna to
stay in the home so they could keep

561
00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:27,280
working on things together. Philip said
he had also reached out to the Kentucky

562
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:31,920
State Police over his concerns that Kenneth
Nye was a sexual predator, but felt

563
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:38,559
brushed off when they referred his complaint
to Indiana law enforcement. I explained to

564
00:48:38,599 --> 00:48:42,960
you that at the time of the
relationship, how Kenneth and I could have

565
00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:47,679
been prosecuted in both states, but
technically he did live in Indiana, or

566
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:52,079
they could even say Colorado where he
was stationed in the army. But still,

567
00:48:52,599 --> 00:48:55,840
when you call the cops about a
grown man seeing your child, you

568
00:48:55,960 --> 00:49:02,800
expect them to do something about it. Defence mitigation specialists spoke about Jenna's childhood

569
00:49:04,079 --> 00:49:09,199
as the precursor to her stunted psychosocial
development. The court heard that after Philip

570
00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:14,760
and his ex wife split many years
before, Jenna was living in an unsafe

571
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:21,039
and chaotic environment in her mother's care. Child Protective services were called a couple

572
00:49:21,039 --> 00:49:25,119
of times, mainly for the state
of her home and neglect, but Jenna

573
00:49:25,199 --> 00:49:30,199
claimed she was also abused. The
defense set her home life with her mother,

574
00:49:30,599 --> 00:49:37,800
Christy Woodpoe had affected her ability to
develop emotionally in a healthy way and

575
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:43,719
left her vulnerable to a predator like
Kenneth Nye. When Jenna was just three

576
00:49:43,800 --> 00:49:47,679
years old, child protective services were
first called to the home over concerns of

577
00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:52,719
neglect. A neighbor had seen rats
around the home and believed that Jenna and

578
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:59,639
her baby brother were being left alone
for long periods. Jenna's mother was reportedly

579
00:49:59,679 --> 00:50:05,599
hostile towards one social worker. Initially
refusing to let her inside. When the

580
00:50:05,639 --> 00:50:09,800
social worker did manage to observe Jenna's
living situation, the home was littered with

581
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:15,119
garbage, invested with roaches and moldy
dishes stacked in the sink. The home

582
00:50:15,199 --> 00:50:22,440
was squalid, practically a biohazard.
Throughout the residence was vomit urine feces from

583
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:29,760
animals and humans. The landlord of
this shithole was also Jenna's babysitter, and

584
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:34,000
told social workers that she noticed the
young girl was often covered in so many

585
00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:37,679
flea bites that the scratching caused her
skin to bleed. She claimed to not

586
00:50:37,800 --> 00:50:43,360
know the condition of the property,
and yet she saw these little kids every

587
00:50:43,440 --> 00:50:47,800
day, and where was her mother? Christy Poe got a job at a

588
00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:52,360
local jail and soon fell in love
with an inmate. She paid his bond

589
00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:57,719
and moved him into the home with
her children. The ex con stole from

590
00:50:57,760 --> 00:51:02,679
her and brought other women there.
According to Jenna's older half sister, who

591
00:51:02,760 --> 00:51:07,039
left the home when Jenna was about
middle school age, dynamics in the abuse

592
00:51:07,119 --> 00:51:14,320
of home environment continued to deteriorate.
Jenna told her defense team that she had

593
00:51:14,360 --> 00:51:19,280
been physically and sexually abused while in
her mother's care, and that there was

594
00:51:19,360 --> 00:51:23,480
drug and alcohol abuse in the home. Then, as a preteen desperate for

595
00:51:23,559 --> 00:51:30,400
attention and love, she met Kenny. Suddenly there was someone she felt would

596
00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:34,519
protect and take care of her,
the care she wasn't getting from her mother,

597
00:51:35,079 --> 00:51:40,280
who the defense alleged encouraged her daughter's
in appropriate relationship with Kenneth Nye.

598
00:51:40,559 --> 00:51:45,920
The defense told the court he was
giving her everything she wanted. She just

599
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:49,920
looked up to him for everything.
The worst thing that could have happened was

600
00:51:49,960 --> 00:51:55,719
to lose that love. Suzanne Hooper, the mitigation specialist, said this didn't

601
00:51:55,760 --> 00:52:00,360
happen in a vacuum. These things
never do. There's a big story here

602
00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:06,400
for while we're in this room today. She researched Jenna's home life for two

603
00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:09,559
years before the trial and had plenty
of things to say about Christy Poe,

604
00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:15,679
Jenna's mother, who refused to speak
to her. Jenna's half sister, who

605
00:52:15,800 --> 00:52:21,159
was older, did testify to abuse, but it wasn't as easy to claim

606
00:52:21,199 --> 00:52:25,480
neglect at the Oakley household, though
Hooper did try. She had never even

607
00:52:25,519 --> 00:52:30,760
seen inside the house, and from
all accounts, Jenna was well taken care

608
00:52:30,800 --> 00:52:36,360
of by the Oakleys. Philip and
Ronda did everything they could to stop the

609
00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:40,119
relationship with Kenny. Jenna was making
good grades, she was a cheerleader.

610
00:52:42,039 --> 00:52:45,800
Suzanne Hooper was not wrong about things
not happening in a vacuum. I have

611
00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:51,079
no doubt Jenna had a terrible early
home life, and she and her brother

612
00:52:51,159 --> 00:52:54,599
moved in with her dad for good
reason. I mentioned earlier in the episode

613
00:52:54,960 --> 00:53:00,719
that Philip felt more people were responsible. I can only assume he meant Jenna's

614
00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:06,079
mother and other adults who had abused
his daughter. He insisted that he got

615
00:53:06,079 --> 00:53:09,199
his daughter treatment. She saw a
therapist, and she was thriving in his

616
00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:15,880
care despite the pain of her breakup
with Kenny. On March twenty seventh,

617
00:53:15,199 --> 00:53:20,719
Philip told the court and his victim
impact statement that he felt Kenneth had preyed

618
00:53:20,760 --> 00:53:23,599
on his daughter, adding, when
Jenna came to live with myself and Ronda,

619
00:53:24,039 --> 00:53:28,400
it was to give her a better
life. She loved Jenna. She

620
00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:31,360
did everything in her power to care
for Jenna. She provided for Jenna.

621
00:53:32,039 --> 00:53:37,840
I was going to do whatever I
needed to do to protect her. But

622
00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:42,400
despite the abuse she may have suffered
at her mother's home, Philip wasn't letting

623
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:45,000
her off the hook. He said, I want to know why you did

624
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:50,559
what you did, because myself nor
Ronda ever abused you. There was no

625
00:53:50,639 --> 00:53:53,320
better person on the face of this
earth than Ronda. You didn't have a

626
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:58,480
right to do what you did.
Kenny didn't know our address, so you

627
00:53:58,559 --> 00:54:01,599
had to tell him to let him
in the house. You're saying you wish

628
00:54:01,599 --> 00:54:06,519
you could have stopped it. Jenna, You're not a victim, You're a

629
00:54:06,599 --> 00:54:17,800
victimizer. I'm going to pause now
for a final commercial break. In the

630
00:54:17,960 --> 00:54:23,039
end, Philip and the prosecution got
their wish. Judge Peckler sentenced Jenna to

631
00:54:23,119 --> 00:54:28,599
a maximum of fifteen years in prison
on both counts, with credit for time

632
00:54:28,679 --> 00:54:34,559
served, saying I would note that
this was particularly cruel, It was senseless,

633
00:54:34,719 --> 00:54:38,400
It was even callous in that regard. It may not surprise you that

634
00:54:38,480 --> 00:54:44,960
Jenna's age and the circumstances of her
early childhood were and continue to be a

635
00:54:45,039 --> 00:54:51,920
huge factor for those who feel she
received a disproportionately harsh sentence. There is

636
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:55,960
a change dot org petition that was
created in June twenty twenty two called Jenna

637
00:54:57,119 --> 00:55:00,000
was Not an Adult that details many
of the things is brought out in court

638
00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:05,719
calling for a retrial. If Trot
as a juvenile, she would already have

639
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:09,320
been released. To date, it
has eight hundred and seventy three signatures of

640
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:15,599
the thousand it was going for,
and many people just signed to publicly write

641
00:55:15,800 --> 00:55:21,400
that Jenna got what she deserved,
and Jenna's family, including her own father,

642
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:25,679
is adamant that she is not serving
enough time. Outside court, Philip

643
00:55:25,719 --> 00:55:30,360
told the Lexington Herald Leader. You
always think of your daughter as they're going

644
00:55:30,400 --> 00:55:35,079
to prom, or you're going to
walk them down the aisle someday. How

645
00:55:35,079 --> 00:55:38,280
did mine turn out like this?
I consider her and Kenny both monsters.

646
00:55:38,800 --> 00:55:43,519
I just don't see how someone can
do that to someone that's caring for them,

647
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:49,000
that's doing everything to love them.
In washing his hands of his only

648
00:55:49,079 --> 00:55:54,039
daughter, Philip told WDRB News what
people say about Jenna, I don't care.

649
00:55:54,519 --> 00:55:59,440
Say phil however you want about her. I don't care. You grow

650
00:55:59,559 --> 00:56:02,440
up and you have children, and
you say you've got unconditional love for your

651
00:56:02,519 --> 00:56:07,280
children. That's not true. I
found some way to not have unconditional love

652
00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:13,880
for my child. Today, twenty
three year old Jenna is detained at the

653
00:56:13,920 --> 00:56:20,159
Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women in pee
Weee Valley. According to prison records,

654
00:56:20,320 --> 00:56:25,039
with good behavior, her minimum expiration
of sentence date is April twenty twenty seven,

655
00:56:25,360 --> 00:56:30,159
when she will be twenty six years
old. She only needs to serve

656
00:56:30,199 --> 00:56:34,159
eighty five percent of her sentence,
which with time served is a bit over

657
00:56:34,239 --> 00:56:38,880
eleven years. Her time in the
juvenile facility for over two years does count,

658
00:56:39,079 --> 00:56:43,920
so she could get out early,
and since she does show remorse with

659
00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:47,440
good behavior, there is a chance. On the other hand, there isn't

660
00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:52,559
a lot of goodwill for Jenna,
despite her supporters. Fifteen years just isn't

661
00:56:52,559 --> 00:56:57,840
a long time for what she did. Many, if not most, want

662
00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:00,679
her to serve all of it.
If she's serves the maximum, she will

663
00:57:00,719 --> 00:57:05,719
be released in August twenty thirty one, when she is thirty years old,

664
00:57:06,400 --> 00:57:12,440
which I think is likely. It
was a vicious, premeditated murder. Jenna's

665
00:57:12,519 --> 00:57:17,679
journal proved that without her confession,
and she also planned to kill her father

666
00:57:17,880 --> 00:57:23,239
and her thirteen year old brother.
That's hard to forget. Jenna killed someone

667
00:57:23,239 --> 00:57:28,639
who was trying to help her,
who loved her. Ronda tried so hard

668
00:57:28,679 --> 00:57:31,480
to bond with her and give her
a normal life. She was involved in

669
00:57:31,519 --> 00:57:37,360
Jenna's life, taking her to cheerleading
practice and showing up for school events.

670
00:57:37,800 --> 00:57:40,840
She took the teen shopping, which
Jenna loved, and yes, she gave

671
00:57:40,920 --> 00:57:46,159
Jenna boundaries, but she also stepped
in and insisted they keep Jenna at home

672
00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:50,480
when Philip was ready to give up
and put her in a boarding school.

673
00:57:52,119 --> 00:57:54,880
Philip still struggles to come to terms
with the actions of his teenage daughter,

674
00:57:55,280 --> 00:58:00,760
whom he and Ronda always loved and
supported. How Jenna could have had any

675
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:06,039
part in something so vicious, much
less written in such detail about planning the

676
00:58:06,119 --> 00:58:13,880
slaughter of her entire family is unimaginable. I've covered teen killers before who killed

677
00:58:13,920 --> 00:58:19,079
family members. In the Holly Harvey
and Sandy Ketchum story, there was plenty

678
00:58:19,119 --> 00:58:23,360
of abuse and neglect. It did
not mitigate their gruesome crime murdering. Holly's

679
00:58:23,360 --> 00:58:29,679
grandparents, who were her guardians.
Both got life sentences, but Holly's were

680
00:58:29,719 --> 00:58:36,239
consecutive and Sandy's concurrent. Sandy was
denied parole last year. Holly is ineligible

681
00:58:36,320 --> 00:58:42,280
until next year. Twenty twenty five. Nathan Callahan brutally murdered his mother and

682
00:58:42,360 --> 00:58:46,199
sister and planned to kill his father, and there was no history of abuse.

683
00:58:46,880 --> 00:58:51,480
He was just mad that he was
grounded. He came from a loving

684
00:58:51,559 --> 00:58:55,239
home and still planned his vicious attack
for two weeks. He's serving a life

685
00:58:55,360 --> 00:59:00,239
sentence. His last parole hearing was
in twenty twenty three, his next is

686
00:59:00,280 --> 00:59:07,440
in twenty twenty nine. The Duke
murders is an even more chilling case of

687
00:59:07,480 --> 00:59:10,800
a sixteen year old who didn't just
kill his dad and stepmom, but also

688
00:59:10,880 --> 00:59:15,840
two little sisters with the help of
three friends. He is serving life in

689
00:59:15,880 --> 00:59:22,079
prison without parole, while his nineteen
year old buddy was executed by the State

690
00:59:22,079 --> 00:59:27,000
of Alabama for these murders when he
was forty two years old. Mark Duke's

691
00:59:27,000 --> 00:59:34,599
death sentence was overturned because of his
age, so comparatively speaking, Jenna Oakley

692
00:59:34,639 --> 00:59:38,199
got a really light sentence. She
viciously killed Rhonda only eight years ago,

693
00:59:38,719 --> 00:59:43,440
and she's only got a couple of
years to go. All but one of

694
00:59:43,440 --> 00:59:47,679
the teen killers I've covered before are
still in prison serving life sentences, and

695
00:59:47,719 --> 00:59:54,159
that one I'm talking about was granted
clemency, which is really unusual. In

696
00:59:54,239 --> 00:59:59,599
all of these cases, I have
brought up the cognitive and moral capacities of

697
00:59:59,639 --> 01:00:05,400
teenage. I've talked about how doctors
believe the frontal lobe is not fully developed

698
01:00:05,519 --> 01:00:10,280
until about age twenty five. That's
where we make rational decisions. The latest

699
01:00:10,280 --> 01:00:15,599
studies show brain development may continue into
the third decade of life, but at

700
01:00:15,679 --> 01:00:21,719
least until the late twenties. I
have also talked about the bizarre way we

701
01:00:21,800 --> 01:00:24,960
will send an eighteen year old off
to fight in war but won't serve him

702
01:00:24,960 --> 01:00:30,039
alcohol. Our laws and customs treat
them like adults when it suits us,

703
01:00:30,559 --> 01:00:36,280
and like children the rest of the
time. I talked about how we as

704
01:00:36,320 --> 01:00:40,599
a society still see them as kids
until they do the unthinkable, and then

705
01:00:40,719 --> 01:00:47,000
overnight they are instantly adults. When
I reread those older scripts, I noticed

706
01:00:47,159 --> 01:00:52,480
that I give much more gruesome detail
than I typically do. I had forgotten

707
01:00:52,480 --> 01:00:55,760
about that, but I do remember
making that decision because I felt like you

708
01:00:55,920 --> 01:01:01,039
needed to hear those details to really
see these killers clearly, to hear what

709
01:01:01,159 --> 01:01:07,280
juries and judges did to come to
these decisions. But to be honest,

710
01:01:07,760 --> 01:01:10,320
the more of these cases I cover, the more I see how hard it

711
01:01:10,360 --> 01:01:15,440
is to understand them. I will
say that Philip Oakley's complete rejection of his

712
01:01:15,559 --> 01:01:22,599
daughter is somewhat unusual. In Nathan's
case, his father stuck by him.

713
01:01:22,000 --> 01:01:25,320
And I recently covered a case where
a twenty three year old man killed his

714
01:01:25,440 --> 01:01:30,400
mom and brother and almost killed his
dad. I'm only mentioning this case because

715
01:01:30,400 --> 01:01:36,320
he was under twenty five with the
frontal lobe argument. But this twenty three

716
01:01:36,400 --> 01:01:39,440
year old did not have the history
of abuse, and I feel he manipulated

717
01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:45,280
his father with his faith to forgive
him, to have him on his side

718
01:01:45,400 --> 01:01:49,639
as he thought to get his death
sentence commuted, and it worked. Bart

719
01:01:49,679 --> 01:01:53,199
Whittaker is the only man Texas Governor
Greg Abbott has ever given a commutation.

720
01:01:54,360 --> 01:02:00,239
Of course, that is just my
opinion, and I know it's controversial for

721
01:02:00,280 --> 01:02:04,360
some of you. For that matter, all of these cases are controversial,

722
01:02:04,880 --> 01:02:09,159
but I'm not the only one who
believes Whittaker is a manipulative sociopath. Likewise,

723
01:02:09,719 --> 01:02:15,159
in this case, Philip and others
have called Jenna manipulative before Rhonda's murder

724
01:02:15,440 --> 01:02:22,000
and also said that she was calculating
and manipulative when she was navigating our court

725
01:02:22,079 --> 01:02:28,239
system without a parent. Her father
points out that she never apologized until she

726
01:02:28,320 --> 01:02:31,440
was before the judge to be sentenced, and he did ask her, he

727
01:02:31,519 --> 01:02:36,639
did try to talk to her and
understand why she did it. She was

728
01:02:36,719 --> 01:02:42,320
cold to him and refused to apologize. That's when he truly walked away.

729
01:02:43,800 --> 01:02:47,280
But not having a parent stand by
her is a distinction here. She was

730
01:02:47,320 --> 01:02:52,639
fifteen and she was utterly alone.
Her court mitigation expert said, mothers of

731
01:02:52,719 --> 01:02:59,199
grown men who have brutally murdered people
call and text her asking about their kid,

732
01:03:00,239 --> 01:03:05,159
not Jenna Oakley's. Jenna's mother is
nowhere to be found in this case,

733
01:03:05,599 --> 01:03:08,239
not in court, and she's never
been interviewed in print or on crime

734
01:03:08,280 --> 01:03:14,480
shows like Philip has. She may
as well have been dead. But then

735
01:03:14,719 --> 01:03:17,039
if she had come to court to
testify for Jenna, she would have had

736
01:03:17,079 --> 01:03:22,639
to face up to the allegations of
abuse that her other daughter and social workers

737
01:03:22,719 --> 01:03:28,800
testified about. Maybe she just couldn't
do that. Maybe she just never gave

738
01:03:28,840 --> 01:03:34,239
a damn about Jenna, And perhaps
Philip didn't know his daughter as well as

739
01:03:34,239 --> 01:03:37,440
he thought he did. Every other
weekend isn't the same as twenty four to

740
01:03:37,519 --> 01:03:42,159
seven when it comes to raising a
child, and he lived in a different

741
01:03:42,199 --> 01:03:45,840
state than his kids. He couldn't
always be there for birthday parties, ballgames,

742
01:03:45,960 --> 01:03:52,440
or school plays. The way other
parents with partial custody can. Please

743
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:58,679
know that I am not blaming or
judging him for that. Custody arrangements are

744
01:03:58,719 --> 01:04:03,119
complicated even and the best of circumstances, and he happily took custody of both

745
01:04:03,159 --> 01:04:10,239
his kids when given the chance.
But I can't help but wonder that if

746
01:04:10,320 --> 01:04:15,119
Jenna's upbringing was as bad as other
witnesses said it was, how did Philip

747
01:04:15,159 --> 01:04:19,559
not see it? Neighbors saw flea
bites and neglect. He said she was

748
01:04:19,599 --> 01:04:25,480
a normal, happy little girl,
a loving, sweet daughter until she was

749
01:04:25,519 --> 01:04:30,800
involved with Kenny, but he still
never dreamed she would viciously kill her stepmom,

750
01:04:30,440 --> 01:04:36,000
the only real mother she ever seemingly
had. Philip loved his daughter,

751
01:04:36,599 --> 01:04:42,920
He then openly publicly said he hated
her. He was very vocal about that.

752
01:04:43,880 --> 01:04:47,000
He has since softened some and doesn't
use the word hate, but he

753
01:04:47,039 --> 01:04:55,199
still won't consider forgiveness. I believe
the people who testified about Jenna's abuse of

754
01:04:55,280 --> 01:05:01,119
childhood, and I also believe that
the Oakleys did did not abuse, neglect,

755
01:05:01,400 --> 01:05:08,840
or otherwise mistreat her. But that
doesn't mean that her emotional growth was

756
01:05:08,880 --> 01:05:14,000
not already stunted by her mother and
early home life. She was also a

757
01:05:14,079 --> 01:05:19,880
decade away from full frontal lobe development. And I wasn't being ironic about Kenneth

758
01:05:20,000 --> 01:05:25,280
Nye when I brought up the Romeo
and Juliet laws. They really were a

759
01:05:25,320 --> 01:05:29,920
factor in this case, but I
dug much further into them before I even

760
01:05:30,000 --> 01:05:33,800
realized that Kenneth and I died of
suicide. I had skimmed the case that

761
01:05:33,920 --> 01:05:39,519
Jemma sent me and then dug in, thinking I would be discussing his sentencing

762
01:05:39,679 --> 01:05:45,559
at the end. I didn't realize
I would just be talking about Jenna Oakley

763
01:05:45,880 --> 01:05:49,840
walking out of prison at the age
of thirty, maybe even younger, still

764
01:05:49,880 --> 01:05:55,159
able to have a full adult life, get married, have a family,

765
01:05:55,599 --> 01:06:02,000
and enjoy the grandchildren that Ronda lost. While I do believe that Jenna's confession

766
01:06:02,199 --> 01:06:08,320
was true, that she was really
the killer, I also believe she would

767
01:06:08,320 --> 01:06:12,559
have done anything to save Kenny,
and he certainly tried to pay the ultimate

768
01:06:12,639 --> 01:06:17,159
price for her freedom. I just
don't believe Jenna would have given a full

769
01:06:17,199 --> 01:06:25,119
confession if she had known about his
suicide. But this isn't Shakespeare. The

770
01:06:25,199 --> 01:06:30,719
story isn't a romantic tragedy. It's
just a tragedy. A senseless, stupid

771
01:06:30,760 --> 01:06:41,039
tragedy that ruined as many lives as
it took. Southern Fried True Crime is

772
01:06:41,079 --> 01:06:45,800
hosted and produced by me Erica Kelly. Today's episode was researched and written by

773
01:06:45,840 --> 01:06:49,239
me and Jimmy Harris. As usual, any editorial comments and opinions are my

774
01:06:49,320 --> 01:06:54,000
own. Southern Fred's original music is
by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio and the

775
01:06:54,000 --> 01:06:58,599
original graphic artist by Coy Horner.
Today's episode was edited and mixed by Brandon

776
01:06:58,639 --> 01:07:02,000
schck Sneyder of Southern Gothic and Erica
Kelly. If you have any case suggestions,

777
01:07:02,039 --> 01:07:05,719
please go to my website, Southernfred
Truecrime dot com and click on the

778
01:07:05,719 --> 01:07:13,079
listener suggestion tab or email sftcresearch at
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779
01:07:13,079 --> 01:07:15,320
way for me to get these little
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780
01:07:15,800 --> 01:07:20,199
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781
01:07:20,280 --> 01:07:25,960
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01:07:25,960 --> 01:07:29,760
we swap recipes, worship Dolly Parton, and share memes. We do,

783
01:07:29,840 --> 01:07:32,000
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784
01:07:32,440 --> 01:07:36,039
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785
01:07:36,039 --> 01:07:39,239
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786
01:07:39,239 --> 01:07:41,920
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787
01:07:41,920 --> 01:07:44,840
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788
01:07:44,880 --> 01:07:47,480
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789
01:07:47,480 --> 01:07:54,079
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790
01:07:54,679 --> 01:07:57,239
thanks so much for listening. Y'all. Take care