Father, son arrested in high-profile Kentucky stabbing death. One charged with murder
An Eastern Kentucky dentist helped clean up blood and get rid of other evidence after his son stabbed a woman to death at the dentist’s home, a grand jury charged Tuesday.
The grand jury indicted Michael “M.K.” McKinney III, 24, on one charge of murder, alleging that he stabbed Amber Spradlin to death at the home of his father, Michael K. McKinney II.
The grand jury also indicted McKinney III on seven charges of complicity to tamper with evidence. McKinney II, 56, and Josh “Square” Mullins, 23, face those same seven counts of complicity.
The indictment says that the three “removed, concealed or destroyed” the handle of the broken knife used to kill Spradlin.
They also allegedly got rid of the clothing McKinney III was wearing; cleaned up blood from two sinks; and removed, concealed or destroyed a surveillance camera that would have had images from the room where Spradlin was killed, a digital video recorder and the hard drive from a computer that had information from cameras in the house.
The grand jury indicted the three Tuesday and police arrested them soon after. They will be arraigned Wednesday.
“I am over the moon about this,” said Debbie Hall, a physician and cousin of Spradlin’s. “I’ve been waiting and waiting for this.”
911 system’s response to Spradlin stabbing call
Spradlin, 39, was stabbed to death at McKinney II’s home in the Martin area of Floyd County on June 18, 2023.
In a lawsuit filed in June of this year, the administrator of Spradlin’s estate alleged that McKinney III killed Spradlin after he had been drinking heavily.
Spradlin’s homicide has been controversial in part because of allegations that the local 911 system didn’t respond properly to an initial call from McKinney II’s house about someone there who was bleeding profusely.
The night Spradlin was killed, McKinney III made a call to 911 from his father’s house requesting help, but his father got on the line to make sure there was no emergency response, the lawsuit says.
Dispatchers should have sent police to the house in response to the call, but didn’t, the lawsuit says.
Spradlin was still alive at the time of the initial call.
Family members and friends of Spradlin believe if police had responded after that call, they could have intervened and Spradlin wouldn’t have been killed, Hall has told the Herald-Leader.
Why did it take so long to make an arrest?
On Tuesday, Commonwealth’s Attorney Brent Turner issued a statement that addressed why it took more than a year to make arrests in the case.
He attributed it solely to a backlog at the “severely understaffed” state crime laboratory that caused delays in getting forensic test results. Some test results, he said, are still pending.
Turner said politics and the status of the defendants played no role in the investigation.
“In my 24 years as commonwealth’s attorney, there is nothing I have taken more seriously than my obligation to treat every criminal defendant the same no matter who they are,” he said.
Turner also said it’s possible the grand jury could consider additional charges in the case because of those pending test results.
Turner reminded people that the indictments are only accusations at this point.
“We will vigorously prosecute this case and do everything within our power to obtain justice for Amber,” Turner said.
Court records available online don’t list attorneys for McKinney III, McKinney II or Mullins.
