Kentucky
A serial killer, kidnappers, burglars: These 25 people are on death row in Kentucky
Editor’s note: This story includes language that may not be suitable for all audiences.
Most of Kentucky’s most violent convicted offenders have spent decades on death row.
The last time Kentucky issued a state-facilitated execution, it was 2008. America had entered the Great Recession, Barack Obama was just elected for his first term as U.S. president and Kentucky inmate Marco Allen Chapman — convicted of murdering two small children and attempting to kill a third and their mother — had repeatedly asked to be put to death.
Before Chapman, it was Edward Lee Harper, who was Kentucky’s first execution by lethal injection in 1999, after he waived his remaining appeals for his conviction of killing his parents in Louisville.
A 2010 ruling by Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd halted executions over concerns about the state’s lethal injection protocol. But Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is now pushing to lift that ban.
As the debate over lethal injections resumes, 25 people currently sit on the commonwealth’s death row, most of whom are housed at the Kentucky State Penitentiary — save for the only woman, Virginia Caudill, who is at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women.
From an American serial killer who once had his death sentence reversed to a man convicted of Louisville’s high-profile “Trinity murders,” here’s a look at every inmate who remains on death row.
Karu Gene White
Age: 65
County of crime: Breathitt
Time on death row: 44 years
On the evening of Feb. 12, 1979, White and two accomplices entered a Haddix store operated by two elderly men, Charles Gross and Sam Chaney, and an elderly woman, Lula Gross. White and his accomplices bludgeoned the three victims to death and stole a billfold with $7,000, coins and a handgun. White was arrested that July.
David Eugene Matthews
Age: 75
County of crime: Jefferson
Time on death row: 41 years
Matthews was convicted of murdering his estranged wife and mother-in-law, Mary Matthews and Magdalene Cruse, on June 29, 1981 in Louisville. He also burglarized Matthews’ home.
Mitchell Willoughby
Age: 65
County of crime: Fayette
Time on death row: 40 years
Willoughby was sentenced to death for participating in the murder of three people alongside Leif Halvorsen, whose death sentence was commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole by former Gov. Matt Bevin. On Jan. 13, 1983, the two men shot Jacqueline Greene, Joe Norman and Joey Durham to death in a Lexington apartment. They attempted to dispose of the bodies that night by throwing them from the Brooklyn Bridge in Jessamine County.
Brian Moore
Age: 66
County of crime: Jefferson
Time on death row: 39 years
Moore was sentenced to death for the kidnapping, robbery and murder of 79-year-old Virgil Harris on Aug. 10, 1979 in Louisville. Harris was returning to his car from a grocery store parking lot when Moore abducted him, drove him to a wooded area and killed him.
Victor D. Taylor
Age: 64
County of crime: Jefferson
Time on death row: 38 years
On Sept. 29, 1984, Taylor and another man kidnapped two Trinity High School students, Scott Nelson and Richard Stephenson, who had stopped to ask for directions to a local football game. The men took the boys to a vacant lot, robbed them and shot them to death. Taylor was arrested less than a week later.
Benny Lee Hodge
Age: 72
County of crime: Letcher, Jackson
Time on death row: 38 years
Hodge has received two death sentences for separate crimes occurring within months of one another.
On the night of Aug. 8, 1985, Hodge and Roger Epperson posed as FBI agents and entered the home of a physician, Dr. Roscoe Acker, in Fleming-Neon. The men choked the doctor unconscious and stabbed his daughter, Tammy Acker, to death in addition to robbing the family of $1.9 million, handguns and jewelry. Hodge was arrested in Florida on Aug. 15, 1985.
He later received a second death sentence on Nov. 22, 1996 for the murder and robbery of Bessie and Edwin Morris in their home in Gray Hawk on June 16, 1985.
Roger Dale Epperson
Age: 74
County of crime: Letcher, Jackson
Time on death row: 38 years
Epperson is currently on death row for the murder and robbery of Bessie and Edwin Morris in their home in Gray Hawk on June 16, 1985. He also received a death sentence in connection to the murder of Tammy Acker but had secured a deal with prosecutors in 2019 to switch that sentence to life in prison.
David Lee Sanders
Age: 63
County of crime: Madison
Time on death row: 37 years
Sanders is believed to have murdered Jim Brandenburg and Wayne Hatch on Jan. 28, 1987 during a grocery store robbery.
Ronnie Lee Bowling
Age: 55
County of crime: Laurel County
Time on death row: 31 years
Bowling was sentenced to death for the murders of two gas station attendants in two separate robberies. Bowling shot and killed Ronald Smith, a London service station attendant, on Jan. 20, 1989. Approximately a month later, he robbed and killed Marvin Hensley, a service station manager in the same town. Bowling was arrested three days later.
Robert Foley
Age: 67
County of crime: Madison
Time on death row: 30 years
Foley is convicted of a total of six murders between 1989 to 1991.
Foley was sentenced to death for the 1991 murders of two brothers, Rodney and Lynn Vaughn, during an argument at his Madison County residence. He was later given a second death sentence for the 1989 murders of Kimberly Bowersock, Lillian Contino, Jerry McMillen and Calvin Reynolds. He killed the four victims because he thought one of them had reported him to his parole officer.
Ralph Baze
Age: 69
County of crime: Powell
Time on death row: 30 years
In January 1992, Baze killed two police officers — Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe — with an assault rifle after the officers went to Baze’s home to serve him an arrest warrant. Baze was arrested the same day in Estill County. Baze was part of a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court decision when he argued that Kentucky’s execution by lethal injection violates the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. However, the justices upheld Kentucky’s method of lethal injection as constitutional by a 7-2 majority ruling.
Randy Haight
Age: 72
County of crime: Garrard
Time on death row: 30 years
Haight was sentenced to death for murdering Patricia Vance and David Omer shortly after he escaped custody from the Johnson County Jail. The bodies of Vance and Omer were discovered inside their car in Garrard County. Haight was apprehended the next day in a cornfield in Mercer County.
William Eugene Thompson
Age: 73
County: Lyon
Time on death row: 26 years
Thompson was serving a life sentence at the then-named Western Kentucky Farm Center on the charge of willful murder for hire when he murdered Correctional Officer Fred Cash, which earned him a death sentence.
While working with an inmate crew, Thompson struck Cash repeatedly in the head with a hammer, dragged the body into a barn stall and fled in the prison farm van. Police arrested Thompson at a bus station on his way to Indiana. Thompson was initially sentenced to death in October 1986. However, seven years later, the state Supreme Court threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial. After that trial, Thompson was subsequently sentenced to death again.
Donald Johnson
Age: 57
County of crime: Perry
Time on death row: 26 years
Helen Madden’s body was found on Nov. 30, 1989 at the Bright and Clean Laundry in Hazard, where she worked. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. Johnson was arrested shortly after her body’s discovery.
Vincent Stopher
Age: 52
County of Crime: Jefferson
Time on death row: 26 years
On March 10, 1997, Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff Gregory Hans was dispatched to the home of Stopher and Kathleen Becker. A struggle occurred, which led to Stopher obtaining Hans’ pistol and shooting him.
Fred Furnish
Age: 56
County of crime: Kenton
Time on death row: 25 years
On June 25, 1998, Furnish entered Ramona Jean Williamson’s Crestview Hills home and strangled her to death. Furnish later used her debit cards to withdraw money from her bank accounts.
Robert Keith Woodall
Age: 50
County of crime: Muhlenberg
Time on death row: 25 years
On Jan. 25, 1997, Woodall abducted Sarah Hansen from the Minit Mart parking lot in Greenville. After driving to Luzerne Lake, he raped her and inflicted physical injuries. Afterwards, he discarded her body in the water. Hansen’s autopsy later revealed she had died by drowning.
Virginia Caudill
Age: 63
County of crime: Fayette
Time on death row: 24 years
On March 15, 1998, Caudill and Johnathan Wayne Goforth entered the home of 73-year-old Lonetta White, beat her to death, then burglarized her home. White was the mother of Caudill’s ex-boyfriend. They placed her body in the trunk of her vehicle and drove her to a rural area in Fayette County, where they subsequently set the car on fire.
Jonathan Wayne Goforth
Age: 63
County of crime: Fayette
Time on death row: 24 years
On March 15, 1998, Goforth and Caudill entered the home of Lonetta White, beat her to death, then burglarized her home. They placed her body in the trunk of her vehicle and drove her to a rural area in Fayette County, where they subsequently set the car on fire.
Roger Wheeler
Age: 63
County: Jefferson
Time on death row: 23 years
While on parole for several counts of first-degree robbery, Wheeler killed Nigel Malone and Nairobi Warfield on Oct. 2, 1997. Both victims were stabbed multiple times with a pair of scissors. When detectives arrived at the scene, they discovered the scissors still in the neck of one of the victims as a trail of blood led out into the street. Blood samples collected at the scene matched Wheeler’s DNA.
Samuel Steven Fields
Age: 52
County of crime: Floyd
Time on death row: 20 years
During the early hours of Aug. 19, 1993, Fields entered the home of 84-year-old Bess Horton through a back window. Fields stabbed Horton in the head and slashed her throat. The large knife used to slash her throat was found protruding from her right temple area. Fields was arrested at the scene.
He was initially sentenced to death on April 29, 1997, but his case was reversed and remanded approximately three years later. He was re-sentenced to death on Jan. 8, 2004.
Shawn Windsor
Age: 60
County of crime: Jefferson
Time on death row: 17 years
Shawn Windsor was convicted of the murders of his wife, Betty Jean Windsor, and 8-year-old son, Corey Windsor. At the time of the murders, a domestic violence order was effect ordering Shawn Windsor to remain at least 500 feet away from Betty Jean Windsor and to commit no further acts of domestic violence. After killing his wife and son, Shawn Windsor fled to Nashville in his wife’s car, which he later ditched in a hospital parking garage. Nine months later, he was captured in North Carolina.
James Hunt
Age: 75
County: Floyd
Time on death row: 17 years
James Hunt was sentenced to death for the 2004 murder of Bettina Hunt, his estranged wife. Police officers found Bettina Hunt’s body at her residence and pronounced her dead at the scene with several gunshot wounds. Troopers were advised that James Hunt was involved in a one-vehicle accident approximately 200 feet from the residence. Following a police investigation, James Hunt was arrested and convicted of her death.
William Harry Meece
Age: 51
County of crime: Adair
Time on death row: 17 years
On Feb. 26, 2003, Meece is believed to have shot Joseph and Elizabeth Wellnitz and their son, Dennis Wellnitz, to death in their Columbia home.
Larry Lamont White
Age: 66
County: Jefferson
Time on death row: 9 years
White is on death row for the 1983 murder and rape of Pamela Denise Armstrong. White was initially sentenced to death following his 1985 conviction of raping and killing two other women — Yolanda Sweeney and Deborah Miles. But the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned his conviction. He later pleaded guilty to the murders and accepted a prison sentence of 28 years. Soon after a DNA sample from the crime scene was matched to White, he was convicted in 2014 for Armstrong’s murder, which happened just weeks prior to the deaths of Sweeney and Miles.
Reach reporter Rachel Smith at rksmith@courierjournal.com or @RachelSmithNews on X, formerly known as Twitter.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville celebrated Juneteenth with music, dancing and a parade highlighting Black culture, history and unity.
The Kentucky Black Festival’s Juneteenth Unity Parade brought hundreds of people to west Louisville, with marching bands, dancers, community organizations and families joining together to honor the meaning behind the holiday.
“Seeing the families having a good time seeing everyone dancing, with everything that’s happening in this city and happening in the world, a moment to just take a breath and smile and relax your shoulders is what this is all about,” said Walter Murrah, executive director of the Kentucky Black Foundation.
Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
For organizers, the celebration is about more than a parade. It’s about recognizing the history that paved the way for future generations.
“Celebrating Juneteenth is more than just dancing and singing. It’s also reaching back and looking at the giants that paved the way for us, but also taking a moment to just celebrate our blackness because I think oftentimes it’s looked down upon, left out, overlooked, and those kind of things,” Murrah said. “And so being Black is beautiful. Being Black is, you know, it should be celebrated, and that’s what Juneteenth is about, is, you know, marrying the history but also looking ahead to what’s in the future.”
Attendees said the event created a space to celebrate their heritage and come together.
“We’re not celebrated enough, so with this being Juneteenth for freedom and unity to come together, this is the day for us to do that,” said Tara Britt.
Community members also emphasized the importance of teaching younger generations about the holiday and its history.
“It’s very important because if we don’t tell them, they won’t know. We have to get educated to educate them because it’s not in the schools right now,” said Shannon Gilbert. “So we get all the knowledge and give it back to them and make sure they’re educated because they’re the future.”
Organizers said the goal is to make sure Juneteenth is not only remembered but experienced through community celebrations like the parade.
Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, but communities across the country have recognized and celebrated the day for decades.
Kentucky
Demetrus Liggins disputes Fayette County board’s claim he resigned, attorneys allege misconduct
LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — The attorneys for Dr. Demetrus Liggins issued a press release Friday alleging the Fayette County Board of Education publicly announced a resignation that never happened, cited the wrong Kentucky statutes to justify placing him on administrative leave, and installed a replacement superintendent without legal authority to do so.
The press release, dated June 19, 2026, gives FCPS a four-day deadline to rescind the administrative leave, withdraw the replacement-superintendent designation, and correct the public record. If the district does not comply, Dr. Liggins’ legal team has reserved the right to pursue contractual, statutory, constitutional, defamation, false-light, civil-rights, and tort claims.
According to the press release, Dr. Liggins proposed discussions toward a possible separation agreement — he did not submit an unconditional resignation. His attorneys allege he expressly corrected the Board’s characterization before the Board acted, yet the Board publicly announced a “resignation notice” anyway.
The press release also notes a striking internal contradiction in the Board’s own June 11 letter: the document’s letterhead continued to identify “Superintendent: Demetrus Liggins, PhD” even while the body of the letter announced an “Acting Superintendent.”
Dr. Liggins’ attorneys argue the Board’s June 11 leave letter cited KRS 160.160 and KRS 160.370 — neither of which, according to counsel, expressly authorizes a board to indefinitely suspend a contracted superintendent, bar him from communicating with district-affiliated persons, exclude him from all school property, and install a substitute officeholder.
Counsel argues the Board deliberately avoided KRS 160.350, the statute that specifically governs superintendent terms, vacancies, acting appointments, and removal for cause, according to the press release.
The press release also invokes Lexington-Fayette’s unique status as Kentucky’s sole urban-county government under KRS Chapter 67A, arguing the Board’s legal framing is further flawed because Fayette County is not governed by the special Chapter 67C school-governance provisions applicable to a consolidated local government such as Louisville–Jefferson County.
Attorney Amos N. Jones issued a direct on-the-record statement in the press release.
“This is not administrative leave in any meaningful sense. They announced a resignation that never happened, displaced the lawful superintendent, installed another superintendent, silenced Dr. Liggins inside his own system, and then hired investigators to determine whether the result already imposed should be imposed. Kentucky law does not allow a school board to manufacture a vacancy, perform a removal first, and search for a justification afterward,” Jones said.
According to the press release, Dr. Liggins’s contract runs through June 30, 2029. His attorneys allege the Board’s actions breach that contract by stripping him of his office, authority, professional standing, and future-career value while continuing to pay his salary. The contract reportedly prohibits reassignment without Dr. Liggins’s express written consent.
The press release notes that any litigation or settlement arising from this dispute could carry significant financial consequences for Fayette County taxpayers.
The press release places individual Board members — not just the institution — on notice of potential personal legal exposure. Attorneys cite what they describe as a false resignation narrative, the alleged creation of a fictitious vacancy, concerted displacement, and a false-light portrayal of Dr. Liggins. The notice also warns Board members that attorneys retained by FCPS may not represent their individual interests and that they should have received Upjohn warnings about privilege and conflicts.
According to the press release, counsel has demanded preservation of all communications, drafts, closed-session materials, media contacts, video records, investigative instructions, succession discussions, and communications with public officials, unions, employees, activists, and outside counsel. The inclusion of “media contacts” and “communications with public officials” in the demand suggests Dr. Liggins’ legal team believes there may be involvement by parties beyond the Board itself.
As of Friday, June 19, 2026, the four-day deadline issued to FCPS is running. If the district does not comply, Dr. Liggins’ legal team has indicated it will pursue legal action.
Summer practice is full underway for the 2026-27 Kentucky men’s basketball squad. And while the on-court teaching is critical to the offseason, what’s happening off the floor is equally as important.
Earlier this week, head coach Mark Pope and the entire team made a trip to the Kentucky Children’s Hospital, where they helped put together Father’s Day goodie bags, built toys, played board games with the kids, and shared laughs all around. Watching Franck Kepnang, Mason Williams, and Jerone Morton smile ear-to-ear while losing in a board game will make your heart full.
This was more than just a quick stop, though. This was about building real relationships and putting smiles on the faces of kids who deserve it. Returning center Malachi Moreno even reconnected with one of his new friends.
“There was a kid I’ve actually kept in touch with for a while. His name’s Jackson,” Moreno said Thursday. “Took some of my teammates in to meet him. I met him at Dance Blue. We’ve been playing Fortnite together. Got his PSN (PlayStation Network) tag and we’re going to play some Fortnite. Me, him, Kam (Williams), and Trent (Noah), we’re gonna play some Fortnite together.
“He’s such a cool kid. I think the guys really took in what it means to be at this brand. We walk in any room, we’re gonna brighten someone’s day. They might not be as fortunate as us but we’re taking time out of our day to go see them, and we’re having fun with it. I just wanted them to realize how much fun these kids are having with us.”
Judging by the video that UK put out on Thursday (which you can watch below) , it sure looks like everyone was having a blast. Some things are bigger than basketball.
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