By JANIE SLAVEN
News Editor
WHITLEY CITY —
A McCreary County grand jury yesterday indicted two individuals for the murder of a Marshes Siding man.
Michael T. Keith, 24, of Marshes Siding is charged with capital murder, first-degree robbery, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence in connection to the death of his father, Donald Ray Keith, on or around August 7.
A second defendant, Barbara Nicole Troxell, has been charged with criminal complicity to each of those offenses.
The Keiths shared a home off North KY 1651. On August 11, Michael Keith contacted the McCreary County Sheriff’s Office to report his father was last seen on Saturday, August 7.
Human remains were located outside the Keith home the following weekend. Authorities believe those remains belong to the 56-year-old Donald Keith, although it may be some time before they can be positively identified.
The indictment alleges that Michael Keith intentionally shot his father in the course of stealing an Epiphone By Gibson electric guitar. To dispose of the evidence, Michael Keith removed carpet and wood as well as spray painted the walls of the scene. He then burned his father’s body along with a recliner.
Troxell is accused of aiding and assisting Michael Keith, who had been initially arrested August 14 on an unrelated charge and remains lodged in McCreary County Jail.
MCSO Detective David Sampson is leading the investigation.
The grand jury also returned indictments against:
• Sandra K. Jones of Strunk — Program Assistance Fraud. Jones received $11,197 in fraudulent benefits between May 2006 and December 2008.
• Dow Crabtree of Parkers Lake — second-degree Burglary. On July 16, Crabtree unlawfully entered Paula Myers’ residence.
• Amanda Lee Sumner of Whitley City — Theft By Failure to Make Required Disposition $500-$10,000. On July 28, Sumner refused to return $1,724.38 belonging to the patients at Quest Community Services.
• Victor Meadows, Tammy Meadows (both of Strunk) and Scottie Patton of Pioneer, TN — third-degree Burglary and Theft By Unlawful Taking $500-$10,000. On June 20, the trio unlawfully entered Nolan and Sandra Johnson’s garage and took various items. Tammy Meadows and Patton are additionally charged with first-degree Persistent Felony Offender while Victor Meadows is charged with second-degree PFO.
• Bobbie L. Worley of Pine Knot — second-degree Robbery, TBUT under $500 and fourth-degree Assault. On July 21, Worley “used physical force on Gary Watters during the course of a theft at Big South Fork Hunting and Fishing Supplies” — taking various items and striking Watters with her vehicle.
• Dylan Herd of Bakersfield, CA; Michael Haponik of Burnside; Michael Walls of Whitley City; Michael Luttrell of Liberty and Phillip Winchester of Stearns — Manufacture of Methamphetamine. The defendants were found July 27 with “two or more chemicals” used to make meth.
Readers are reminded that an indictment is a charge and should not be considered as evidence of an individual’s guilt. Anyone under indictment is presumed innocent until and unless convicted in a court of law.
