A 33-year-old Kentucky mother, Felicia Gross, is charged with manslaughter after the body of her son, 10-year-old Jayden Spicer, was found in a shallow grave. This comes almost a week after she reported him missing and begged for help to find him.
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As reported by Fox 56, Jayden was originally reported missing on Wednesday, August 6. Apparently, he had disappeared overnight while wearing “Sonic the Hedgehog” pajamas.
A day later, Gross provided a statement to media outlets, shared by the Kentucky State Police, in which she begged for help to find Jayden.
“We love Jayden, and we want him safe at home,” the statement read. “Please, if anybody see [sic] my son Jayden Spicer, please report it to the Jackson Police Department. Thank you. We love him very much. Please, do the right thing. Call the police. Please, pray for use [sic] and my son Jayden. Thank you.”
Many members of the community joined the search and even raised thousands of dollars as a reward for anyone who could provide information regarding Jayden’s whereabouts.
Body Found, Mother Charged
However, the search for Jayden came to a heartbreaking and troubling end on Tuesday, August 12. Following a lead, troopers searched the Canoe Road area and, at around 3 p.m., they found Jayden’s body. He had been buried in a shallow grave off Canoe Road, around 19 miles from his home.
“While this is not the outcome that we had hoped for, we certainly are grateful that we were able to bring him out of the woods today,” Commonwealth’s attorney Miranda King said in a media briefing, as per Fox 56.
Felicia Gross, following the finding, was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and falsely reporting an incident.
According to an arrest citation obtained by WKTY, Gross allegedly admitted to killing Jayden. Specifically, the citation alleged that Gross gave Jayden a sleeping medication that caused a fatal medical episode. Then, the woman allegedly confessed to taking his body to the Canoe Road area where he was found, burying him in a plastic tote.
Additionally, Gross is accused of coaching Jayden’s sibling on what to tell authorities days before her alleged confession.
Gross is currently being held at the Kentucky River Regional Jail.