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A Corbin man accused of beating a three-year-old child to death while babysitting her in February and the child’s mother were both indicted Monday morning by a Whitley County grand jury. Jordan Blake Taylor, 22, and Alexandra Ward, 20, were named in separate indictments in connection to Amoura Smallwood’s death. Taylor was indicted on charges of murder, first-degree sodomy and first-degree strangulation. Ward, who is Smallwood’s mother, was indicted on charges of complicity to commit murder and complicity to commit first-degree strangulation.  According to their indictments, on or about Feb. 17, Taylor strangled Smallwood by “blocking her nose and mouth,” which impeded her normal breathing and Ward allegedly failed to prevent...

Update: A Golden Alert D, which was issued during the early morning hours Saturday for a missing Whitley County woman, has ended with a tragic outcome. About 8 a.m. Friday (April 7), Stephanie Patterson, 48, was reported missing to Whitley County officials. She was last seen walking away from her residence off Grove Road in Corbin, according to a Whitley County Sheriff's Department release. The initial release noted that it was crucial that Patterson be located as soon as possible because she suffered from Huntington disease, which required medication that she had not taken Friday. "Following an extensive search late last night into early this morning, Mrs. Patterson has tragically been located deceased....

A Golden Alert D has been issued for a missing Whitley County woman. About 8 a.m. Friday (April 7), Stephanie Patterson was reported missing to Whitley County officials. Patterson, 48, is described as a white female with short brown hair. She was last seen wearing a black jacket with a hood, red pants and brown boots. She was last seen walking away from her residence off Grove Road in Corbin about 8 a.m. Friday, according to a Whitley County Sheriff's Department release. "It is crucial she is located as soon as possible," the release noted. Patterson has Huntington disease and requires medication that she had not taken Friday. "If you see anyone fitting this description or...

A Corbin Primary student died Monday evening following an accident with a basketball goal. Corbin Independent School District provided the News Journal with a statement early Tuesday morning regarding the accident, which reads as follows: "Yesterday afternoon around 5:00pm, there was a tragic accident involving a Corbin Primary student. The young man was at his home playing basketball and the goal structure he was playing on, collapsed and fell on top of him. The student was transported to the UK hospital and later passed away. Our most heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends." Since the accident, a flood of social media posts by friends, family members and...

Daniel Nantz entered a guilty plea to a federal murder charge Thursday afternoon, which marked the four-year anniversary of the day Geri D. Johnson was shot multiple times before being dumped out at Baptist Health Corbin and left for dead. Nantz appeared in U.S. District Court in London last week to enter the plea as part of an agreement with prosecutors.  He originally faced additional charges of kidnapping, two counts of conspiracy to distribute 500 or more grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Those charges will be dismissed, per...

A Woodbine man has been arrested for murder in the death of a three-year-old child Sunday, according to Kentucky State Police. KSP Detective Logan Gay arrested Jordan Blake Taylor, 22, and charged him with murder Sunday. About 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department contacted Kentucky State Police asking for assistance with a death investigation involving a child. The preliminary investigation revealed that Whitley County EMS responded to the residence where the child was found unresponsive, and transported the child to Baptist Health Corbin when it was pronounced dead by the Whitley County Coroner’s Office, according to the release. An autopsy is scheduled in Frankfort at the State Medical Examiner’s Office. Taylor was...

Nicholas Rucker has entered a guilty plea to numerous charges, including murder, in the 2019 death of Vicki Conner and a subsequent failed attempt to escape from jail. Following case mediation, Rucker, 42, entered the plea in Whitley Circuit Court on Tuesday afternoon. Rucker faced charges of murder, tampering with physical evidence and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon in connection to Conner’s death, as well as charges of attempting to escape from a penitentiary and three counts of kidnapping stemming from an April 2022 incident in which he and another inmate attempted to escape from the Whitley County Detention Center. For more information, including the Rucker's recommended prison sentence,...

The Whitley County Board of Education is now officially complete. The board met Thursday evening for their second special-called meeting in a week to appoint a new member to fill a vacancy on the board. Following a brief executive session, which was closed to the public, the board announced Paula Grubb as the newest member of the board. Grubb will fill the third-district seat, which has been vacant since former board member Malorie Cooper resigned in December 2022. Grubb was one of two applicants who applied to fill the vacant seat. The board initially selected Kelly Bryant, a former Whitley County High School teacher, to fill the vacancy during a Jan. 26th...

TCO, LLC in Corbin will soon begin laying off its entire workforce as it prepares to close its doors. TCO, located just off the Corbin Bypass in Knox County, notified its employees earlier this month via a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) letter dated Jan. 11. In the letter, TCO stated that the closure is “due to a restructuring and consolidation of sites within the ams-OSRAM group,” in which the company’s contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of 2023. Employees will begin being terminated at “some undetermined time” between Apr. 1 and Dec. 31 of this year and the layoffs are expected to come in...

The vacancy on the Whitley County Board of Education has been filled. The board met for a special-called meeting Thursday evening to interview two candidates for the third-district board seat, which has been empty since former board member Malorie Cooper resigned in December 2022. The interviews were conducted during a closed executive session. Once returning from their executive session, the board announced their selection of Kelly Bryant to fill the vacancy. Bryant is a former longtime employee of the school district, having previously been a teacher at Whitley County High School until her retirement two years ago. Following Cooper's resignation in December, the board had 60 days to fill the seat. Notices of...