00:00:01
Hope you like it, big papa. You going to get what's coming to you. You son of a You're not above the law.
00:00:11
If you've never heard of Amber Spradlin's case, well, then >> [music] >> you're probably not from Eastern
00:00:16
Kentucky. Because in Floyd County, this case is all people are talking about. For over a year, this could have been
00:00:25
considered a whodunnit. Six people went into a house, one ends up dead, one is covered in blood and failed a polygraph.
00:00:32
The one with scratches left the house right around when the murder is thought to have happened. Two others don't seem
00:00:39
to be talking to police at all. And at least one is talking, but says that when she went to bed that night, everyone
00:00:46
[music] was fine. And a camera that was pointed right at where the crime took place and should have made this an open
00:00:53
and shut case is missing. But some people in town never considered this a whodunnit. They believe that the person
00:01:01
police arrested, the one that's about to go to trial here any day, did the crime
00:01:06
he's charged with. A brutal murder of a young woman who had already been dealt one of the toughest hands in life. But
00:01:12
there are still so many [music] questions. Mainly, why? 38-year-old Amber Spradlin hardly knew
00:01:19
these people. Why would someone slit her throat, stab her in the face, and leave
00:01:24
her dead, covered in blood, on the couch till morning? >> [music] >> And why would a police chief,
00:01:31
unconnected to the investigation, allegedly tell Amber's family [music] that she wasn't murdered at all?
00:01:38
And just died by aspiration. Something in Floyd [music] County stinks. And based on what we found, this might just
00:01:46
be scratching the surface of what's been happening [music] there. So, with the trial right around the corner, we're
00:01:53
trying to make sense of what happened to Amber Spradlin that night in June of 2023. [music]
00:02:06
Amber Spradlin had a tough childhood. Her mom and sister died when she was young, and she was barely into her 20s
00:02:14
when she lost her dad. And as you can imagine, all of that trauma left her with pretty severe and sometimes
00:02:20
debilitating anxiety and depression. But the family that she did have left, her grandparents, her aunt Missy, her cousin
00:02:27
Debbie, [music] they had all really taken Amber under their wings. And actually, up until
00:02:32
recently, Amber lived with her grandparents. But when they too passed away, Amber felt like it was time for
00:02:37
her to step out from under her family's wings and finally spread her own. By 2023, at the age of 38, Amber had
00:02:45
finally gotten her own place and found a part-time job as a hostess at a popular
00:02:49
restaurant in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, where she lived. Now, I mean, this was a bit zero to 60. So, aunt Missy decides
00:02:57
that it would be best to keep a close eye on Amber just to make sure she was safe. So, she had security cameras
00:03:02
installed at Amber's new house to do just that. And Amber was great about communication, too. I mean, she is
00:03:08
nothing [music] if not predictable, and keeping a strict routine is super important to her. So, she made a call
00:03:14
every morning to her aunt at 9:00 a.m., and they would exchange even more calls throughout the day. So, when Amber
00:03:20
doesn't call Missy [music] on Sunday, June 18th, this bad feeling washes over her right away. Missy checks the footage
00:03:28
from Amber's place, and she can see her leaving for work Saturday evening. But as she scrolls through later that night,
00:03:35
when she knew Amber should be home from work, then beyond, all the way till she sees daylight, Amber never shows back up
00:03:42
on screen. And right away, [music] Missy calls Debbie to tell her what's going on. And Debbie has that same immediate
00:03:49
sinking feeling. Something is [music] wrong, and they just know it. Now, Debbie isn't in town. She's on this
00:03:55
little getaway 90 minutes away with her fiance, [music] Brandon. But that doesn't stop her from jumping right into
00:04:00
action. Brandon's brother is with the Kentucky State Police. So, Brandon actually calls him to tell him Amber's
00:04:06
missing. >> [music] >> And about 10 minutes later, he gets a call back. And what comes out of his
00:04:11
brother's mouth leaves everyone stunned. Amber isn't missing. She's been murdered.
00:04:19
Now, he can't give them much more. I mean, the only reason he knows anything about Amber's death is because his
00:04:24
agency is handling the investigation. So, Debbie and Brandon immediately hop in their car and fly back to
00:04:31
Prestonsburg. And by the time they get there, basically everyone in the family has come together. But no one knows
00:04:37
anything more. I mean, the wild part is that they're not even supposed to know what little they do.
00:04:43
>> Right. That's like just through like back channels because they know a person.
00:04:46
>> Right. No one in any official capacity on the case has notified them, anyone in
00:04:51
their family, about what's going on. But thank god for Brandon's brother. So, he
00:04:55
comes over to give them like the few tidbits of information that he does hear. And he tells them that Amber went
00:05:02
out the night before, and she was murdered by one of the men she was with. So, desperate for any help they can get,
00:05:08
they reach out to a family friend that's retired from the state police. And he goes on to like make some calls to see
00:05:14
if he can find out more information. [music] And what he ends up telling them is even
00:05:18
more confusing. Debbie says that this guy called the Prestonsburg police chief, this guy named Randy Woods.
00:05:24
And Randy told him that Amber wasn't murdered. He's like, she is dead, but she died because she aspirated, which is
00:05:33
basically like if food or something like enters your airway and you stop breathing, like that sort of thing. So,
00:05:37
Chief Woods is saying that this was an accident. And according to Debbie, he told this friend to tell the family that
00:05:45
they should all just settle down. I'm sorry. Settle down? Like, they were told that
00:05:53
she's murdered, and now what, she died by accident? Like, this family has every right to not be
00:06:00
settled. >> And it And it's getting no information. >> Well, and also, I thought this was a
00:06:03
state police investigation. Why is the chief of the Prestonsburg Police Department, different agency,
00:06:10
telling them to settle down? He's like not even involved, right? >> Well, so, this is a very small town, and
00:06:15
there's a lot of overlap between agencies. Like, they often do help each other out. They respond based on just
00:06:21
who's available, it seems like. And Kentucky State Police handles a lot of the suspicious death investigations in
00:06:28
smaller towns, like Prestonsburg and Martin, [music] which is where the house ends up being
00:06:34
that she's at. But it's a little messy because like just a quick side story, so the 911 service in
00:06:40
Floyd County, it was in flux at the time. So, the Kentucky State Police had handled the 911 services for the county
00:06:45
for a long time. >> But for just the year before, county officials had decided to switch its
00:06:51
emergency call center to Prestonsburg because it would be less expensive. So, like this process is just a little bit
00:06:57
>> a lot of like moving parts that like haven't been moving for that long. >> Right. Like, this guy still isn't in
00:07:03
charge. And the family doesn't know what to believe. Like, they want to hear something straight from KSP. No back
00:07:09
channeling. Which, by the way, they've been trying to make contact with someone all day. It's their inability to
00:07:15
actually get someone official to talk to them that was like necessitating all this back channeling. But finally, not
00:07:22
long before midnight, Missy reaches someone at the state police post and >> [music]
00:07:26
>> gives them an earful, explaining that they have been hearing rumors all day. They just need to know what's going on.
00:07:32
No one has been in contact with them. And whoever she talks to like must not be able to give her the answers then or
00:07:38
doesn't want to because they have to call her back. And that happens a few hours later. That's when a detective
00:07:44
finally gets in touch and says that Amber has been murdered. >> I'm sorry. This is going back and forth.
00:07:50
Like, what is happening? They're still not being told anything yet. >> [music] >> But she obviously didn't aspirate. And
00:07:58
her body is being sent to the state medical examiner. So, they do say that they'll know more soon, and the case is
00:08:05
under investigation by the Kentucky State [music] Police. Period. And then? And nothing.
00:08:12
The family is left super in the dark. They just know that Amber left her place for work Saturday night, and by Sunday
00:08:21
morning, she's been murdered. Where did it happen? What happened? Did the police have suspects? They were left
00:08:28
to guess all of that while they waited for updates. Little did they know, though, right from the jump, state
00:08:36
police actually had all of that and some. Because they had been working the case since just after 10:30 a.m. that
00:08:44
Sunday morning. And it all started with a 911 call from the home that Amber would be found in. That home is in the
00:08:51
town of Martin, Kentucky, [music] and it belonged to then 55-year-old Dr. Michael
00:08:56
McKinney II. The doctor is the one who placed the call. And I'm going to read the
00:09:01
transcript of it that was included in a court filing. Now, the public hasn't heard this call yet. I haven't heard
00:09:07
this call yet, so I'm just going to read it pretty flat because I don't know what
00:09:10
the tone was. But Brandon, I'm going to have you read for the 911 dispatcher, and I'll read for Michael.
00:09:16
911, where is your emergency? Yes, so my name is Michael McKinney. I'm at Arkansas Road. Yes.
00:09:24
I had some people come back to my house last night, and there's a girl on my couch that's dead.
00:09:30
Arkansas Creek? Yes, so I need some assistance. All right, I'll get everybody out there.
00:09:38
That's my cell, yes. Do you know who the female is? Roy, what's her name? What's her name? I
00:09:43
know it's Amber, but what's And then, uh, Roy jumps in here, Amber Spradlin. Amber Spradlin.
00:09:50
Is it obvious, or was it you think it's drugs, or Dude, it looks like somebody's come into the house and
00:09:57
murdered her. Her throat's [music] slit. There's blood everywhere. Okay, about how old is she? How old is she? 32, 33.
00:10:06
All right, I'll get everybody out there. Thank you. You're welcome. Thoughts? Well, I mean, it sounds like he doesn't
00:10:14
even know her. Like he can't give her last name, doesn't really know how old she is.
00:10:19
Also, the phrase "There's a dead girl on my couch." Like what a cold way to refer to
00:10:25
anyone, but to refer to this person in your own >> own home. Yeah. And listen, theoretically, he should know her
00:10:31
because the restaurant that Amber was a hostess at It's called Brick House and Dr. Michael McKinney owns it. Oh. Now,
00:10:39
it's probably not weird that he didn't know her last name and age. Like he didn't even work at the restaurant
00:10:44
full-time. He's a dentist. The restaurant is just one of his business ventures that helped make the McKinneys
00:10:49
[music] a like wealthy and prominent family in the area. And by the way, Eastern Kentucky has one of the highest
00:10:54
poverty rates in the country. So, if you have money, people know you. So, first responders may have known what
00:11:02
house they were pulling up to when they arrived after that 10-30 call was made. Now, Amber is found on the couch sitting
00:11:10
upright. Her head is slumped forward and her clothes are covered in blood. >> [music]
00:11:16
>> And once they get a better look at her, like first responders, they could tell
00:11:20
that this was not a natural or accidental death. I mean, she had been stabbed and her throat had been cut. And
00:11:27
investigators now had four people standing [music] in front of them and one of them was covered in blood.
00:11:39
>> [music] >> The man covered in blood is a 51-year-old local guy named Roy Kidd.
00:11:58
And after getting a lawyer, here's what he tells state police investigators. He'd met Amber years earlier at the
00:12:06
medical office in the area where Debbie works as a doctor. Amber volunteered there and Roy was a radiology
00:12:12
technician. Now, he told investigators that he wasn't really close with Amber or
00:12:16
anything and [music] Debbie backed that up. She told us that Roy was nice to Amber, just kind of like joked around
00:12:22
with her, paid attention to her, but as far as she knew, like they didn't even hang out. Now, Roy said he occasionally
00:12:27
ran into Amber at the Brick House where she worked and another bar called Seasons Inn and Restaurant, which
00:12:33
[music] was owned by a McKinney family member who he's related to by marriage. [music]
00:12:38
Okay. But they didn't spend much time together outside of that, except for this particular Saturday.
00:12:45
He hadn't really planned on doing anything that night, [music] but Amber had messaged him on Facebook and
00:12:50
convinced him to come out. He wouldn't have known this, but this was maybe her trying to branch out, be more
00:12:56
independent. [music] So, after she got off work, Amber picked him up at his house and then they headed
00:13:01
to Seasons Inn. When Amber and Roy arrived, they don't necessarily spend every minute together. Michael McKinney
00:13:07
was there and Roy says that he spent most of the night with Michael and Michael's brother Chris and Chris is the
00:13:11
one who owns Seasons. And they're just chatting. And Roy says that Amber was talking to people she knew, hanging out
00:13:18
with her friends. Of course, they like co-mingled at points. Michael even bought Amber and Roy a few drinks and
00:13:23
then Chris gave them a few rounds on the house. >> [music] >> Now, the bar closes at 2:00 a.m., but
00:13:29
when you know the owner, no, it doesn't. And he said [clears throat] that this big crowd stayed there drinking after
00:13:34
hours. That was the norm for Seasons. But sometime around 4:00 in the morning, Michael [music] invited Amber and Roy to
00:13:41
come back to his place to keep partying. This isn't a big group that's going back. Honestly, it was really just the
00:13:46
people who lived at the house. So, Michael, then his 23-year-old son Michael McKinney III or MK, as everyone
00:13:53
calls him, a guy named Josh Mullins who had a room in the basement in the house and Josh's girlfriend Lauren. So, Roy
00:14:01
says, you know, they just accept the invitation. But Amber's cousin Debbie told us that Amber was probably so
00:14:06
excited to get that invite. I mean, this may have been a big deal for her. She probably felt so lucky. And so, she and
00:14:13
these other five people all piled into Michael's Bronco to head to the McKinney house. Now, Roy says when they got to
00:14:20
the house on Arkansas Creek Road, the party kept going in the basement where Michael had after parties like often. I
00:14:26
mean, he kept making everyone drinks, everyone was having a good time. But at some point, Roy had reached his
00:14:32
limit and he knew that he had to go to bed. He'd been there before, so he knew right where to go, upstairs to MK's room
00:14:38
where he could collapse on a bunk bed. And he said that when he walked up the basement stairs, everyone was still down
00:14:45
there. Everyone seemed fine. The next thing he knew, Roy was waking up to daylight.
00:14:52
Now, it's between 7:00 and 9:00, maybe 9:00, 10:00, 11:00. Like he's real fuzzy on the details, but he was also in real
00:14:59
rough shape. Like he was like covered in his own urine and feces. Obviously felt really sick.
00:15:06
>> Feces? Yeah, dude was like drunk drunk and I think he had some medical issues,
00:15:10
but he says that he just wanted to go home. So, he makes his way out of the bedroom
00:15:14
to go look for his phone so he can call someone to pick him up. And in his search, he stumbles down the hall to the
00:15:20
other end of the house, like it's by like the kitchen. And from there, he could see the back of Amber's head and
00:15:26
it looked like she was sitting on the couch in the living room. And so, he said he called her name as he was like
00:15:31
going around to the front of the couch. And as soon as he saw her from the front, he knew why she hadn't been
00:15:36
responding because she was covered in blood. And he says he rushes over to her, like shakes her. He's like
00:15:44
screaming her name twice, but she didn't respond at all. And in a panic, he rushes to Michael's bedroom on the same
00:15:51
floor, starts like banging on the door for him to wake up. And he says Michael opens it right away and Roy just said
00:15:56
like call 911 because something's happened to Amber. And he thought she'd had a stroke or something. And so,
00:16:03
according to Roy, Michael maybe stepped out from his room a bit, like looked Amber's way and then he steps back in
00:16:07
and starts making calls. And Roy can't hear much. He's just like sitting at the dining room table in
00:16:12
shock. But at some point, he asked where MK was because he didn't want him seeing
00:16:17
what was like in the living room. And Michael told him that MK left sometime during the night. So, like no concern
00:16:23
there. But Lauren and Josh weren't so lucky. At some point, they come upstairs where they all wait for police. So, they
00:16:31
just sat there? Did no one check her pulse or try CPR? Like I know he's a dentist, but
00:16:38
like dentists are still doctors. Police literally asked Roy the same question and Roy explained that he I mean, he
00:16:44
works in the medical field, right? He thought Amber had some kind of hemorrhage or aneurysm because he didn't
00:16:49
notice any wounds, he says. All he saw was the blood, which had dried already. And he figured that that she was gone
00:16:58
just from her face and her eyes. I I have so many questions. How did he mistake a slit throat for
00:17:06
an aneurysm? Like that is not the same at all. It actually, the way that she was slumped over, it like hid her neck
00:17:14
and you actually couldn't tell. Even first responders say that you could not see her throat was slit. So, that wasn't
00:17:21
super weird to them. Okay, fine, but if he's claiming the blood was dry and that
00:17:25
he didn't really touch her beyond like what, shaking her that one time? Like how does that explain him being covered
00:17:32
in blood? Because he says it isn't her blood. He said that he'd fallen quite a few
00:17:37
times the night before. He had something like 10 to 14 drinks that night and said
00:17:42
he was like a nine out of 10 on the drunk scale. I don't know what a 10 out of 10 is for Roy, but he was sloppy. So,
00:17:48
he said he wiped out once while getting out of the Bronco when they first got there. And then later at the house, he
00:17:54
fell again in the bathroom and split open his chin. And the story probably seems a little wild and far-fetched.
00:18:02
[music] Yeah. Especially because according to court records, one of the detectives tells Roy that
00:18:07
they can't find any blood in the bathroom where he says he busted his chin. And Roy's surprised by this cuz he's
00:18:13
like, you know, I didn't clean up after myself, so I don't know what to make of this. But he insists that's what
00:18:20
happened. He insists that everyone was fine when he staggered off to bed at 6:30. And Lauren, the only other person
00:18:28
willing to talk to police that we know of, backs this up. She says that Amber was still alive in the living room when
00:18:35
Josh and her went back down to the basement where Josh's room was to go [music] to bed. And she said that was
00:18:40
around 7:00 a.m. Okay, what about the blood? Does she back up his story about why it was on him? Say anything about
00:18:47
someone cleaning it up in the bathroom? >> know. So, there haven't been a ton of
00:18:50
details released about what exactly she told police, but there is something else
00:18:54
that backs up Roy's story. Something way better than a drunk person's memory. Investigators realized pretty early on
00:19:02
that there was another call made to 911 from Michael's house that morning. Like four and a half hours before the one
00:19:10
about Amber, MK called. According to court filings, MK asked dispatchers to send someone to take a
00:19:18
family friend to the drunk tank. The family friend that he's talking about is presumably Roy.
00:19:24
And the dispatcher asked if Roy was like fighting or otherwise like committing an
00:19:29
arrestable offense. And MK didn't answer directly, but he added, "I'm not saying
00:19:35
arrest him." Now, I have not heard this call, but Debbie got to listen to the call and she said
00:19:41
that MK describes Roy as "really effed up" and said that he was bleeding profusely.
00:19:49
But And Michael gets on the line and says that like, "I've got this under control. No responses needed." So, no
00:19:56
one is dispatched. I'm sorry. I I guess I just I I Don't know what to think? Yeah, cuz
00:20:04
are we thinking something really happened at 6:00? Not if you believe Roy and Lauren.
00:20:11
Cuz Roy goes to bed after this. Everything's fine. Lauren goes to bed an hour after this call. Everything's
00:20:19
still fine. But did either of them mention the first 911 call in their stories? I don't know about Lauren, but
00:20:26
I know that police asked Roy when they found out about it. Like, you know, "What's this 6:00 a.m. 911 call about?"
00:20:31
And it was total news to him that MK called 911 on him. >> I mean, if he blacked out, I don't know
00:20:36
if we can trust anything he says, though. I don't I don't think he's saying he doesn't know cuz he blacked
00:20:42
out. Like, he just didn't know that MK did that. Like, and without hearing the call myself, I
00:20:48
don't know if MK's in another room. I don't know or or if things were just getting hazy for Roy.
00:20:54
Or if he's lying. Roy actually agreed to a polygraph test, but he fails it pretty
00:21:01
royally. I mean, he fails on four substantial questions. Did you see anyone stab or cut that
00:21:08
woman? Did you stab or cut that woman? Did anyone tell you [music] that they stab
00:21:14
or cut that woman? Did you help cover up that woman's death? Oh, so like all the important questions.
00:21:22
>> after he fails, detectives want to bring him in for more questioning, but this is
00:21:27
where Roy's attorney shuts it down. And as far as I know, that was Roy's last interview with police. So, are Michael,
00:21:35
MK, and Josh taking polygraphs and giving like their version of events? Oh, your your face is telling me a lot.
00:21:41
>> doesn't it doesn't seem like it. So, there's nothing in any of the court records coming from them. But of course,
00:21:48
a lot of evidence won't come out until the trial. It actually even takes investigators a
00:21:53
minute to find MK. I do know that because he wasn't at his mom's house, either. Like, he's not there when they
00:21:58
show up, not at his mom's house. And it turns out that he had gone back to the city of Morehead, which is like 70 miles
00:22:04
away, where he went to college. But luckily for state police, the evidence that they have been collecting from the
00:22:10
scene and Amber's autopsy, that all tells a story of its own. It's just not what anyone expected.
00:22:22
Amber's autopsy reveals that her attack was brutal. At less than 5 ft tall, she clearly tried to fight off her killer
00:22:31
because she had defensive wounds, and they were able to collect biological material from under her fingernails that
00:22:36
didn't belong to her. But any one of the men in the house that night could have overpowered her. They were all taller,
00:22:44
stronger, and of course, whoever murdered her had a weapon. Now, we don't have the official autopsy,
00:22:51
but what we do know from court records is that she was stabbed a total of 12 times in the face, neck, head, torso,
00:22:58
and throat. [music] And the killer used so much force that the blade of the knife broke off in her neck and was
00:23:04
still there for the ME to find. >> Oh my god. And that was probably a huge shock to
00:23:10
anyone in the room when it was found because they had collected a knife from the scene. What?
00:23:16
>> A whole intact knife that had been like shoved into the couch Amber was sitting
00:23:22
on. >> [music] >> And now they have this blade, but the missing handle that should have been
00:23:27
attached to said blade in her neck was nowhere to be found. Never recovered. Wait, so were two weapons used? It
00:23:37
doesn't seem like it. Again, there's still very limited information about the knife recovered from the couch and what
00:23:42
testing might have been done on it and what that might have shown. But the way the indictments read, it looks like they
00:23:48
think that knife was planted. But why? Like, that that doesn't make any sense. I know, and I keep going over it in my
00:23:56
head, and I don't know if it only doesn't make sense because we're sober right now. Like, trying to like piece
00:24:02
this together. >> Right. Anyway, put the planted knife aside. The handle to the knife that we care about
00:24:08
is missing. And you know what else is missing? The McKenneys had surveillance cameras
00:24:14
around their house, and one of those cameras was pointed [music] directly at the couch where Amber was found.
00:24:21
According to Lauren, it was there. There was also one in the basement by the bar
00:24:27
area. So, this case should be over right there. Yeah. It should show exactly what
00:24:33
happened and when and who was involved. >> Mhm. But those cameras and the footage
00:24:38
were gone by the time police arrived at the house after Michael's 911 call. And so was the digital video recorder
00:24:48
and the hard drive that stored the footage from the surveillance cameras, too. >> Whatever was on those tapes is long gone
00:24:56
now. According to court records, surveillance footage from the area, though, they collect that. And it shows
00:25:04
MK's blue truck leaving the area at around 8:30 in the morning. And that is very different from what Roy
00:25:13
said that Michael told him, which was that MK left the night before. I mean, we knew that was a lie as soon
00:25:20
as we found out about the 6:00 a.m. call from MK to 911. >> Right. And if everyone's stories are to
00:25:29
be believed, big if there. >> Mhm. The time that he's there at the house and then leaves is in this very
00:25:36
critical window. So, MK makes that 911 call a little before 6:00 a.m. Roy goes to bed, presumably, after that. Then
00:25:44
Lauren and Josh go to bed at 7:00 a.m. And Lauren says Amber is still alive and well, and it's just Michael and MK who
00:25:52
are now unaccounted for. Then, just before 8:30, MK's truck is driving away, and by 10:37, Amber is for
00:26:01
sure dead. Blood on her has already had time to dry. Yeah, I'm so suspicious of everyone
00:26:07
right now. I know, which I think is going to be a problem when this case goes to trial.
00:26:13
What they need is physical evidence tying someone to Amber's murder. It seems like the best piece of evidence
00:26:20
they have to work with is that material found under her fingernails. I mean, she
00:26:24
clearly tried to defend herself. So, if it was from one of the five other people
00:26:28
in the house that night, maybe their DNA is going to show up there. Now, they are able to create a profile from
00:26:35
what they got. It's not great, but it is enough to tell that it's male. And they can do direct comparisons with
00:26:42
it. So, they get the DNA of every man that was in the house that night. I'm assuming through a warrant, but
00:26:50
that's not specified in the court docs. So, Roy, Michael, Josh, and MK. And something interesting happens when
00:26:56
MK goes to the KSP post to give his sample. This is just 3 days after Amber's death. And I don't know if this
00:27:02
is the first time they're actually laying eyes on him or what, but authorities notice that he has a bunch
00:27:09
of scratches on both of his arms. And it looks like the scratches kind of like start at the inside of the elbow and
00:27:17
like move down in the direction of his hand. And listen, I'm no expert, but like
00:27:24
it kind of looks like claw marks. What does MK say the scratches are from? I don't know if he gives an explanation.
00:27:30
Like, if he does, that's not in the court records. My guess is that he's keeping his mouth
00:27:36
shut based on advice from his attorney. >> Mhm. But DNA is going to do the talking
00:27:40
for him if it's his. [music] They just have to send it off and then wait. Now, mind
00:27:45
you, while all of this is unfolding in the first couple of days, Amber's family is
00:27:50
still mostly in the dark. No one from law enforcement ever came to their house for an official notification of Amber's
00:27:58
death, and no one came to them right away to get any statements or anything. But they weren't just waiting around. I
00:28:04
mean, they start hearing rumors about what happened. They find out who Amber was with the night before and where she
00:28:11
was. They feel like the McKenneys might have something to do with whatever happened to her. Which I think is a fair
00:28:18
assumption. >> Right, and their biggest fear, though, is that I mean, because the McKenneys are kind
00:28:24
of what they consider powerful in the community, they're afraid that Amber's death might just get swept under the
00:28:29
rug. Debbie told us that people feel that there are two kinds of justice in Floyd County. One for the haves and one
00:28:35
for the have-nots. I mean, we end up finding out that Michael is actually friends with at least one officer in the
00:28:41
Prestonsburg Police Department. So, even though the case is being handled by a different agency, their faith in a
00:28:46
proper investigation is shaky, at best. So, by day two, her loved ones and people from the community were
00:28:54
protesting outside of Michael McKinney's restaurant where Amber worked. Debbie created a Facebook page called
00:29:00
[music] Justice for Amber, and people were joining in droves. They went on to hold a candlelight vigil
00:29:06
at the alternative school that Amber attended. And her family talks to every reporter who calls. They want answers,
00:29:14
and they think the best way to get them is through attention. [music] So, tension is building in the community.
00:29:21
And keep in mind, when I say community, Prestonsburg is literally a few streets tucked into a valley,
00:29:27
a few stores on the highway, a few side streets, mostly these little houses. I mean, the whole population is around
00:29:33
3,500 people. So, it does not take long for rumors to start spreading. And the rumor that's spreading isn't just that
00:29:40
someone in that house was involved in her murder. People in town believe that police tried to cover it
00:29:49
up. The Kentucky State Police? No. Though, I mean, the family still does not love how they found out Amber was
00:29:55
murdered second hand. >> Right. But, there was something about the call that they got from Debbie's
00:30:02
friend, that retired KSP officer, that just like never quite sat right with them. [music]
00:30:09
And that's the one where the chief of police in Prestonsburg told them to settle down. And that Amber wasn't
00:30:15
murdered. Right. Just she aspirated. Cuz like that's specific. And how would he know?
00:30:22
It's specifically so different from the truth of what happened, too. >> So, if he was in the know, like that
00:30:30
shouldn't have been his answer. >> Right. >> If he didn't know anything, why is he
00:30:34
saying that? >> is he literally making stuff up to tell a grieving family on a case that he's
00:30:39
not working? Like, it's not adding up. But, you know, there's something else that's not adding up when it comes to
00:30:46
who knew what and when. [music] So, remember Michael's 911 call when he said, "Dude, it looks like somebody's come
00:30:54
into the house and murdered her. Her throat's slit. There's blood everywhere." How would he have known that?
00:31:02
Roy didn't know that her throat was slit. He told Michael that she had an aneurysm or something. And remember,
00:31:08
even first responders said that it wasn't clear that her throat was slit because of how she was like slumped
00:31:12
over. >> Yeah. Right. But, Michael wasn't even close up. Roy said at most Michael just stepped out of his room and
00:31:20
looked over >> over. toward the couch before going back into his room and making calls. And Roy
00:31:25
told police that he never saw Michael check on Amber. I mean, he seems pretty sure about what happened on the call,
00:31:30
though. Yes. He does seem pretty sure of it when he calls 911. But, you might have caught me saying
00:31:37
that he made calls that morning, plural. Not just a call to 911. >> And the first one that morning wasn't to
00:31:45
911. [music] You're not going to believe who it was to when I show you the court docs.
00:31:53
Police found out that before calling 911, Michael McKinney made a nearly 8-minute call
00:32:01
to Randy Woods, the Prestonsburg Chief of Police. >> Which like, for what possible reason?
00:32:09
So, Michael doesn't give one to investigators that we know of, but Chief Woods does.
00:32:15
Chief Woods tells state investigators that when Michael called, he just instructed him to call 911.
00:32:22
Call 911. Did that take 8 minutes? Right. They have an 8-minute call. Yeah. Now, maybe Michael was in shock. I mean,
00:32:31
no one ever expects to be in a situation like this. Maybe he panicked. He called
00:32:35
law enforcement by dialing his friend's number who's in law enforcement instead of 911. Like, in his mind, it could have
00:32:40
been the same thing. And maybe for 8 minutes Chief Woods was calming him down. We don't know.
00:32:48
But, it would sure be weird if he spent that long calming his friend down, but then basically told the family to like
00:32:53
cool it because she aspirated. [music] Well, then Michael goes on to tell 911 that her throat was slit. And Roy didn't
00:33:00
overhear anything. He says no. He says that he knew he was making more than one call, but he suspected that Michael was
00:33:07
calling his ex-wife first. I don't know why, but he says he didn't know it was the chief, and like he
00:33:12
couldn't hear much from the call. Could Chief Woods have been instructing Michael about what to do? Only two
00:33:20
people know what was said in those 8 minutes. We reached out to Chief Woods, but we
00:33:25
have not [music] heard back yet. What I will say is I think there's something interesting to
00:33:31
remember. Floyd County had just changed its 911 call system, remember, a few months
00:33:37
before Amber's murder. It is possible that when Michael called 911, he expected Prestonsburg dispatch to send
00:33:48
Prestonsburg officers. Would it have made a difference? I don't know. One of the things
00:33:57
I think about, and I might have mentioned this before, but like I recently went to a coroner's
00:34:01
conference this year, and the educator there was warning against something that he sees a lot,
00:34:07
where responding officers or like a coroner with no death investigation training,
00:34:13
because like, by the way, in some places, like to this day, you don't need any training to be a coroner. Just like
00:34:19
got to be a high school graduate with a pulse. I'm not saying that's like the case
00:34:22
here, but like, anyways, someone with no investigative training can show up in some places to a scene,
00:34:29
and if that person says it's not suspicious, that's the end of the line. No criminal investigators come out. It
00:34:35
is just over and done with. But, Michael said on the call with 911 that her throat was slit. I know that doesn't
00:34:42
make sense to say if something sketchy was going on. So, I'm not saying that in this case.
00:34:47
I would pay good money to see first responders' reports. [music] Who was dispatched? Who showed up? When?
00:34:56
Why? But, none of that has been released yet by the state [music] police. Because
00:35:01
Amber's family has some suspicions about the way that they think things went down
00:35:07
and what was supposed to happen. But, without documentation, I can't report on it. Not yet, at least. I can tell you
00:35:14
that if someone was trying to cover this up, Debbie's family believes it wouldn't
00:35:19
be the first cover-up to happen in Floyd County. [music] Not even the first for their family.
00:35:25
Remember how I told you that Amber grew up with her grandparents because both of
00:35:29
her parents died? >> Yeah. Well, her mother, Sharon, died in 1988 after she got locked in a
00:35:35
Prestonsburg bar called the Wildcat Lounge >> [music] >> and climbed up on a chair to break out a
00:35:42
window. The story is that the chair collapsed and it left her stuck hanging from the
00:35:47
window with her feet a few inches off the floor. So, she suffocated and it was just considered an accident. The family
00:35:55
feels that there wasn't much of an investigation at all. But, Debbie said the family never bought that
00:36:00
explanation. I mean, the bar owners swore that they had checked the place before closing that night and nobody was
00:36:05
inside. And there's other cases that Debbie mentioned, like Kristen Smith, who was 33. She was found dead in her
00:36:14
home by her boyfriend on June 2nd, 2021 in Martin, the same tiny city of around 500 where the McKinneys live.
00:36:22
And not just any boyfriend. A friend we spoke to who did not want to be named says that she was dating a local
00:36:28
official. She was a mom of two kids and about to graduate from college. She'd worked really hard to complete a diploma
00:36:36
that would mean that she could give her kids the kind of life that she wanted them to have without having to rely on
00:36:41
anyone else. The same friend told us that after numerous instances of domestic violence, Kristen was leaving.
00:36:48
And the next morning, she was found dead under what her family thinks are suspicious circumstances. According to
00:36:54
WSAZ, her death was ruled a suicide. Her friend also told us that people in Floyd
00:37:00
County just see this as kind of the way things happen in those parts. The same day Kristen was last
00:37:07
seen alive, a woman named Candy Green Gonzales, who was 36, was reported missing from Prestonsburg.
00:37:14
Her family had last seen her at the day before. Rumors online that we can't confirm say
00:37:19
that Candy was dating the son of a local law enforcement officer. [music] Now, one of Candy's relatives did tell us
00:37:26
it's disturbing how much happens in Floyd [music] County that just seems to get swept under the rug. It is never
00:37:32
talked about again. Women missing, women suspiciously dying, and no one convicted, especially if they
00:37:40
have pull at the courthouse. People close to both women say that their cases weren't really investigated and they
00:37:47
believe that the politicians and law enforcement in the county close ranks to protect their own. And there was almost
00:37:54
no media coverage on these cases to expose any issues. And that is what makes Amber's case different.
00:38:01
>> And her case is so clearly homicide. Like, there's no way to even try to call it something else.
00:38:08
You mean like aspiration? Right. Yeah. But, still, even with everything they have at that time, months go by while
00:38:17
KSP waits for the forensic testing they did to come back because the lab is backlogged.
00:38:22
And in that time, no one is arrested. >> Which like, how? But, who? Like, you have six people in the house that night.
00:38:30
I mean, one's dead. One is covered in blood and failed a polygraph. The one with scratches on his arm left the house
00:38:37
during like a very critical window of time when the murder is thought to have happened. One talked to police, but said
00:38:43
that she was asleep and everything was fine. And two others don't seem to be talking to police at all, unless you
00:38:50
count an off-the-books call to the chief of police before 911 was called. So, who
00:38:54
do you arrest? Like, it can't be all of them, not without proof. The community is outraged by this, though,
00:39:01
understandably. And at some point, members even rented a billboard that says justice for Amber.
00:39:07
They paid $3,000 every 3 months to keep it up. But, finally, according to Debbie,
00:39:14
8 months later, 8 months? >> 8 months later, the results finally start coming in.
00:39:23
The blood on Roy's shirt >> Mhm. is Roy's blood. No trace of Amber's. And that DNA under her nails?
00:39:35
Not Roy's. And not Josh's. Okay. Now, the type of testing they have, they were working with Y-STR testing, [music]
00:39:44
which looks at genetic markers on the Y chromosome. >> Mhm. And those get passed down from father to
00:39:51
son. [music] So, all males along a direct paternal line have the same marker. >> Mhm.
00:39:57
So, good news in this case, they have a match. It's McKinney DNA. Bad news, investigators can't say which
00:40:06
one. It could be Michael, or it could be MK, or it could be any other male in that familial line for that matter.
00:40:14
>> Yeah, but there wasn't any other family in the house that night. Very true. >> [snorts]
00:40:19
>> So, with investigators knowing that they were the only two men from that family
00:40:24
in the house, and knowing that MK is the one who wasn't there when police showed up, and
00:40:30
that he's the one who had scratches on his arms when they met with him 3 days after the murder,
00:40:35
>> Mhm. MK is the one who is finally charged with Amber's murder. The one, so just him? Yeah, they charge
00:40:44
MK with murder and what will eventually be eight counts of evidence tampering. But Michael and Josh get hit with
00:40:50
evidence tampering charges, too. And they all plead not guilty. And Roy and Lauren? Nada. Which like was a little
00:40:58
surprising to me. I'm I'm not necessarily the Roy part based on just like how he cooperated and what we know
00:41:05
from all like the pieces. I mean, I he said nine out of 10 drunk. I think he was like a full 10 out of [music] 10
00:41:10
drunk and asleep when whatever happened happened. But I am having a hard time figuring out like where Lauren is for
00:41:17
all of this or why she's not a part of it, but Josh is if they both went to bed together like she said.
00:41:23
>> But the idea put forward in the indictment is that MK killed Amber, and then with Michael and Josh, {quote}
00:41:30
removed, concealed, or destroyed, {end quote} the handle on the knife used in the
00:41:36
attack, MK's clothing, and the camera and digital recorder containing surveillance footage, the hard drive
00:41:42
that would have contained footage of the murder, all of that. The indictment also alleges
00:41:47
that Amber's blood was cleaned up from the kitchen and the laundry room sinks. And this is all before Michael ever
00:41:55
makes any calls, like while Roy is still sleeping. Presumably. Now, one thing I know I mentioned is that Roy said that
00:42:03
Michael opened his bedroom door like right away when he starts pounding on it. It seems to me like Michael was
00:42:08
already up or like maybe had never gone to bed. So, did Roy interrupt a plan or was Michael
00:42:17
waiting for someone else to find Amber? Like I have no clue. I don't even think we can say for certain that Michael
00:42:23
wasn't sleeping. >> Mhm. But I think if evidence was destroyed like the prosecution is alleging,
00:42:30
it probably happened before Roy woke up. And listen, there is still a lot we don't know. I mean, I get the feeling
00:42:37
what has been released is only scratching the surface of what police have. I mean, yeah, like motive. How did
00:42:44
this night spiral so like badly and quickly and all of it? That is the thing with this case. This is the
00:42:51
big question still, but I'm not sure we're ever going to get a satisfying answer. I mean, like so
00:42:59
often when it comes to violence against women, you see a sexual motive. But Amber was clothed from what we [music]
00:43:06
know, and there was no sign of sexual assault that was in the records. And the prosecution hasn't suggested
00:43:12
that that's their theory, either. The only thing that has been talked about is some worrisome behavior by MK that got
00:43:20
uncovered in KSP's investigation. According to court docs, MK allegedly has a history of violent outbursts and
00:43:28
mental instability. Now, he doesn't have a criminal history, but what investigators hear paints a
00:43:33
really disturbing picture. According to court records, a guy named Timothy Likens told investigators that he had
00:43:39
gone to the McKinney house one night [music] after drinking at Seasons, you know, the usual.
00:43:44
And he alleges MK pulled out a knife and said that he was going to kill everyone
00:43:48
there. And like 20 people were over, so everyone fled the basement according [music] to Timothy.
00:43:55
And then Michael wrestled the knife away from MK. And Roy even told investigators
00:44:00
that he was talking to MK the night of the murder, and MK was confiding in him that he was experiencing suicidal
00:44:06
thoughts, and that he'd been hearing dark voices telling him to do bad things. Now, Roy says that he was really
00:44:13
concerned, and he tried to comfort him, but like given how much he drank, Roy was in no shape to like help anyone.
00:44:20
>> Right. But interestingly, MK's defense is not combating these charges with any kind of
00:44:26
insanity defense. >> Which I mean, I feel like that would be a struggle to pull off given that 6:00
00:44:30
a.m. call he made. Like you're lucid enough to call 911 about Roy like worried about his state.
00:44:36
>> Right. So, if he wasn't experiencing an episode of psychosis, and he did murder
00:44:41
Amber like police allege and the prosecution alleges, then what was that call? Was this premeditated?
00:44:49
Was he trying to frame Roy with that call? I mean, it might be totally unrelated, but pointing the finger at
00:44:56
Roy does seem to be the strategy for MK's defense. [music] We actually got MK's defense attorney,
00:45:02
Stephen Romines, on the phone. It's one of the first times he's spoken publicly about the case. And one of the first
00:45:08
things he pointed to for us was that first 911 call from MK about Roy being drunk and belligerent. He also pointed
00:45:15
to police testimony to the grand jury that indicated Amber was [music] upset at Roy for being so drunk and
00:45:22
embarrassed by his behavior in front of her boss. So, what? He killed her? MK's lawyer didn't say that. He's just like
00:45:28
pointing to things that he thinks we should know. And stuff I assume he's going to be
00:45:33
sharing with a jury. Wait, what about MK's dad lying about when MK left? Like he's the only one who left that morning.
00:45:41
Well, we get that from Roy. I mean, Roy is the one telling police that Michael said that.
00:45:46
>> Mhm. And MK's lawyer says that anything that comes out of Roy's mouth is worthless in
00:45:50
his mind. He told us that Roy's cell phone was right beside Amber's body on the couch. I mean, remember he'd gone
00:45:57
looking for it that morning, and that's when he found Amber. And MK's attorney also points to the
00:46:02
fact that Roy failed his polygraph test on, remember, those pretty substantial questions. And I'd also like to point
00:46:09
out that Roy's the only one who actually took a polygraph. That we know of, correct. Crime Junkie life rule number
00:46:16
four, never take a polygraph. >> But of course, those results aren't going to be admissible in court.
00:46:21
>> Right. MK's attorney says that investigators basically ruled Roy out because they
00:46:26
thought that Roy was too drunk to kill someone, which he disagrees with. Oh, and the missing surveillance and camera
00:46:33
equipment. >> Yes. We asked him about that, and he says that he'll address that at trial. But he
00:46:40
says that it had been removed weeks earlier because it was going to get replaced.
00:46:45
As for why MK didn't cooperate with investigators, MK's lawyer says investigators implicated him
00:46:50
immediately, and so he wisely exercised his Fifth Amendment rights. And what about the DNA? Like the DNA does
00:46:58
not look good for his client. He said it's the weakest DNA evidence he's ever seen in connection to a case, and that
00:47:06
it could have come from anything like laying on a couch in someone's home. And listen, I don't have details about
00:47:13
this DNA, but I do assume there was very little if all they could do was Y-STR, right? If there
00:47:19
would have been more, they could have gotten a sample to do a direct comparison with both of the McKinneys,
00:47:24
which I think would have helped their case against MK, right? If it ended up being his. So, I think that's going to
00:47:30
be a point that MK's lawyer may be able to win with a jury. But guess who else we heard from? Right before we got ready
00:47:37
to do this recording, Michael McKinney, MK's dad, got back to us. And he had some interesting things to
00:47:44
say. He accused Amber's family and supporters of using a {quote} paid social media
00:47:50
campaign, {end quote} to attack him and his family, which he said is an attempt for
00:47:57
conviction in the court of public opinion. And he also said that the campaign made it so that Roy wasn't
00:48:03
investigated, even though that Michael says the evidence against Roy is overwhelming.
00:48:08
And he points to some of the same factors as MK's lawyer did. Like the failed polygraph, the fact that Roy
00:48:13
eventually did stop talking to investigators. Michael says the campaign against his
00:48:18
family is trying to {quote} contaminate the jury pool. And he also accused the prosecution of
00:48:24
trying to delay the trial so that there is more time to influence prospective jurors. Now, the trial was set for
00:48:32
December, but on October 20th, the prosecution [music] did ask for more time. They wanted to
00:48:38
continue to test more [music] evidence. What evidence is there left to be tested?
00:48:43
>> Apparently, there are at least 33 more items that need to be analyzed for DNA.
00:48:49
Remember, the crime lab in Kentucky is seriously backed up. It took eight months for that first batch of results
00:48:55
to come back. So, the lab just didn't get it done in time. Now, the judge granted that request,
00:49:01
canceling the December 1st trial date, and basically they ordered everyone to come back in that day for a pretrial
00:49:06
conference instead. And so, I assume that they'll have a new trial date after that. And we're actually going to be
00:49:12
live streaming the whole thing on the Crime Junkie Jury YouTube channel. So, please show up for Amber and her family.
00:49:19
Come, drop a comment, let them know that you are there, that you're supporting them.
00:49:24
I know it would mean so much to them. And until then, like MK is in jail awaiting trial. Josh and Michael are
00:49:34
both out on bail and house arrest with conditions. Like they can kind of go about their business. Like, Michael was
00:49:39
still allowed to train other dentists while awaiting trial to save his dental practice. And he's still allowed to go
00:49:45
to his restaurant. And what about the Chief Woods of it all? Like, if it were me, I would want to dig
00:49:52
deeper into figuring out whether there was any kind of attempted cover-up here. But this is this is the other
00:49:58
interesting part. So, Chief Woods ended up resigning from the Prestonsburg Police Department 5 days
00:50:06
after Amber's murder. Now, in a statement quoted in local media at the time, he said that his
00:50:11
resignation was because of the emotional toll of a June 2022 shooting in Floyd County that killed
00:50:18
three police officers. Ashley. The resignation was right before the anniversary of the shooting.
00:50:28
So, that is his official reason. Got it. Anyway, in June 2024, Amber's family brought a civil suit against multiple
00:50:37
public officials and private individuals, including Chief Randy Woods. Also, the Prestonsburg Police
00:50:43
Department, the McKinneys, Roy, and others. All alleging negligence, obstruction of justice, civil
00:50:49
conspiracy, and other wrongdoings. And this was before they ever knew if there was going to be criminal charges. So,
00:50:54
that case is still pending. >> [music] >> A major part of the suit is what we mentioned about the 911 system transfer
00:51:01
in Floyd County from the KSP to the city. And the lawsuit claims that that switch left the county without adequate
00:51:08
emergency coverage. And they say that contributed to Amber's murder because if someone had gone to
00:51:15
the McKinneys' house when MK first called 911 on Roy, she might still be alive. It has been beyond hard for Amber's
00:51:25
family to watch the men accused of being involved in her death go about their day-to-day lives over the last couple of
00:51:31
years. It's their hope that when they have their day in court, that they're going to see justice for Amber. Because
00:51:38
at the end of the day, they want to ensure that Amber herself never gets lost in this story.
00:51:43
She endured so many tragedies and she was just finding her footing. And for things to end like this for her, like
00:51:53
this doesn't seem fair. And they don't want her death to be for nothing. So, they're pushing for a bill
00:51:59
to be reintroduced in the Kentucky State Legislature that would increase funding
00:52:03
for crime labs so that investigators and families don't have to go through long waits that they had to in Amber's case.
00:52:10
It would be called Amber's Law. And they're getting a lot of support from the community where they live and across
00:52:15
the nation. Debbie tells us that she thinks it's because so many people in that area identify with Amber, with her
00:52:22
struggles and her losses. And as information came out after she was murdered and people caught wind of
00:52:29
an alleged cover-up, it really rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. So, Debbie hopes Amber's case brings attention to
00:52:37
the other loved ones of other missing people or people who may have died suspiciously in the county. And she
00:52:43
actually took to the Facebook group that she created for Amber and she put this call out on it asking other people if
00:52:50
they knew of cases that needed attention because she wants Amber's story to give
00:52:55
other people some hope and some fight that, you know, if they can get out there and stand up and stick with it,
00:53:03
maybe there will be some change or some justice for them, too. And people have been commenting with names. Like, so
00:53:10
many names. It is totally overwhelming and we're having the team look into some of those
00:53:16
cases now. So, we're going to keep you updated as we dig into those. And Debbie wrote in that same Facebook post that
00:53:23
she had been hoping and praying that Amber would help bring attention and justice to others who needed it.
00:53:31
You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkie.com.
00:53:36
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