In 2016, a senseless murder shocked a small community in Kentucky. When 13-year-old David Oakley got home from school, he saw his stepmother Rhonda Oakley lying lifeless and bloody. Earlier during that day, his teenage sister Jenna Oakley killed her stepmother by slashing her throat till she died while her boyfriend watched.
This horrific murder occurred in 2016, in Danville, Kentucky. The 52-year-old victim's brutal killing shocked not only her loved ones, but the law enforcement authorities as well.
After discovering the body, David called 911 at a neighbor's house to report what had happened. When first responders got there, the body of the stepmom was found with her neck slashed savagely. The woman was dead and nothing could be done to save her, according to Meaww.
The investigators were already looking for evidence or anything relevant to the gruesome murder. They found a knife missing from its block holder, according to Oxygen. They also found vomit in the trash, and Jenna Oakley, who was just 15 that time, was not at home too.
Twisted daughter and dead stepmom
On the day Rhonda was slain, Jenna's school officials called her dad, Philip Oakley, to inform him that his daughter had skipped school. Initially, he just thought his daughter was just at home or sick. But when he got home, he was met with the gruesome crime scene. This started the connection of the murder and missing daughter.
Police asked the patriarch if someone would have ill intentions on them. It was Jenna's 20-year-old boyfriend Kenneth Nigh, whom she met in Indiana, who first came to mind. A statement by Richie Bottoms, Kentucky Commonwealth Attorney, said that the suspect had a steady relationship with Kenneth Nigh that began when she was about 11 or 12, according to ABC7.
Both parents were concerned about their age gap and asked her to end it. Her phone was taken so that she won't be able to reach Nigh. Philip was dead serious and called Nigh to break it off or he'll report him to the police.
He added that Nigh agreed to stop the relationship and to follow the rules set by him and his wife. On the day Rhonda died, Philip was sure that the boyfriend had not followed the agreement and had no intention to end his relationship with Jenna.
Plans of murder
The room of Jenna was combed for any leads that could give them insight into the grisly murder. A journal where she wrote entries gave investigators a possible motive behind the murder. One thing was evident and that she was love-crazy over Nigh, which might have been the cause of her reckless actions. One of her darkest notes was that her family would not be able to stop her in seeing her boyfriend.
When authorities searched Jenna's room, they found her journal, which proved that her infatuation with Nigh never ended. In one specific chilling entry, she had written about how her family would not be able to stop her from seeing Nigh as they would "be dead soon thankfully". Added in these notes was how she would kill everyone, including her father and brother.
Shortly after the murder, the couple were found sleeping in a car in a parking lot in New Mexico. During the interrogation, the accused said that it was her who used a knife to slash Rhonda's throat.
Jenna got first-degree murder charges. But her boyfriend had the easy way out and tried to commit suicide. He later died from his injuries.
