Kentucky

A serial killer, kidnappers, burglars: These 25 people are on death row in Kentucky

Published

2 years ago

July 26, 2024

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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.

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Kentucky

Glendale, KY, residents mourn death of solider killed in Iran conflict

Published

10 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Glendale, KY, residents mourn death of solider killed in Iran conflict

The small, tight-knit community of Glendale, Kentucky, is mourning the loss of the well-liked young man.
Pennington was an Eagle Scout and high school athlete who joined the Army in 2017 after graduation.
Pennington was a decorated soldier assigned to the 1st Space Brigade and will be posthumously promoted to staff sergeant.

GLENDALE, Ky. – The text message arrived on Mike Bell’s phone early on March 1. It was brief: Benjamin Pennington, the son of Bell’s close friend Tim Pennington, had been seriously injured in an attack at a U.S. air base in Saudi Arabia.

Bell hadn’t seen Benjamin Pennington in a while, but the executive minister and retired pastor of Glendale Christian Church clearly remembered the bright, ambitious boy who attended church every Sunday with his parents before enlisting in the U.S. Army.

Bell asked the Sunday school students gathered before him to pray for the 26-year-old Glendale native. Over the following week, he and Tim talked or texted daily, praying and hoping for the best.

There were signs of hope on March 5. Pennington asked the medical staff for a Pepsi, which his family saw as a positive sign. But by March 7, Pennington’s condition had worsened.

That night, after calling a basketball game at Central Hardin High School, Bell received a call from Tim. Benjamin had died from his injuries.

Bell said Benjamin was about to be moved from Saudi Arabia to Germany when his blood pressure dropped.

Bell ached thinking about Pennington’s family not being able to be with Benjamin in his final moments.

“Their hurt is so real and so powerful. I can’t fathom the loss of their son,” Bell said. “That distance made a real difference.”

As the conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran enters its second week, Glendale and the larger Hardin County community are now mourning one of their own. According to those who knew him best, Pennington was a well-liked, confident young man who made friends easily.

An Eagle Scout and high school athlete, Pennington was enrolled in an automotive technology career pathway at his alma mater, Central Hardin High School. However, he changed his career plans and joined the Army in 2017 right after graduating.

At the time of his death, Pennington was a sergeant assigned to the 1st Space Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado. The U.S. Army said in a news release that Pennington will be posthumously promoted to staff sergeant.

Glendale is a typical small town — a Mayberry of today, as Bell likes to say. It’s quiet, with plenty of antique shops and family-owned restaurants lining its historic boulevard. Residents here take pride in how long they’ve lived here, and many have never dreamed of leaving the community they’ve built.

“I moved here 20 years ago, and I’m considered a young-in,” said Sherry Creek, owner of The Mercantile, a home goods store on East Main Street.

Some, like Eddie Best, trace their roots back to the 1800s. On March 10, Best was inside The Whistle Stop, a southern-style family restaurant that has only changed hands twice in its 50-year history. It was a Tuesday, which meant he was picking up his family’s regular order of two open-faced roast beef sandwiches, a side of greens and baked apples.

“Family, that’s why I stayed all these years,” said Best, 45.

The ties that bind this close-knit community make Pennington’s death even more impactful for the town of about 2,000 residents, located about an hour south of Louisville. In the few days since the news broke, Bell said his and others’ phones have been ringing nonstop.

“The people are wanting to know what to do, how to do,” Bell said. “Everybody is struggling in darkness, trying to figure out how to bring a little light to the Pennington family in their struggle and transition.”

The Penningtons, by all accounts, are active and involved community members. Tim Pennington has been a long-standing member of the town’s Lions Club and coaches cross country and track at Central Hardin High School.

Pennington was on the team while his father was the coach. Contrary to what some might expect, Pennington showed at least no outward annoyance at his dad being coach, said Jonathan Ratliff, who was also on the school’s team. If anything, he put twice as much effort into his sport, showing he wasn’t going to get favorable treatment, Ratliff said.

Ratliff, who was a few years ahead of Pennington at Central Hardin, said Pennington was friendly and funny, someone who quickly made friends with teammates and even athletes on different teams.

“As soon as I joined the team, it felt like I had been with him forever,” Ratliff, a part-time actor in the Glendale community, said. “It didn’t matter if you knew Ben for a minute or two years. He just had a positive energy to be around. Very fun guy, great teammate to have.”

Pennington’s death marks a second blow to Glendale in recent months. In December, Ford and the South Korean company SK On dissolved their partnership to manufacture electric vehicle batteries at a plant just outside of the town. Although Ford plans to retool the factory and hire 2,100 workers for its second phase, the immediate impact resulted in termination notices to 1,500 people.

“Nobody was indifferent on it,” Bell said of the plant. “And then you have this, and everybody hurts. … It’s a family.”

Pennington is the seventh U.S. service member to die in the conflict that began Feb. 28. The other six soldiers died in an Iranian missile strike at a civilian port in Kuwait one day after the war began. Military officials are investigating the circumstances of the March 1 attack at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

Pennington received the Army Commendation Medal three times and the Army Good Conduct Medal twice during his military career, according to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. He also received the Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Korea Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.

On March 9, Pennington’s body was returned to U.S. soil. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth attended the dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, a military tradition.

It’s unclear when Pennington’s remains will return to Glendale, but the community is ready to welcome him home.

Hardin County Judge Executive Keith Taul has ordered all flags at Hardin County government buildings to be lowered from March 9 to sunset March 11 in honor of Pennington.

The Glendale community “will get through this, together,” Taul said. “They will. They’ll reach out and put their arms around the Pennington family for sure.”

Monroe Trombly covers public safety. He can be reached at mtrombly@gannett.com.

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Kentucky

Trump takes his war against Thomas Massie straight to his home Kentucky district

Published

22 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Trump takes his war against Thomas Massie straight to his home Kentucky district

WASHINGTON — President Trump will use his stop in Kentucky on Wednesday to try to get his congressional nemesis out of office.

His target is Rep. Thomas Massie, a seven-term congressman who the White House has named the “Democrats’ favorite member.”

Trump endorsed Massie’s primary opponent, Ed Gallrein, who will be at the event in Hebron, Ky., per his campaign. The president will also be making a stop in Ohio.

President Trump will campaign in Kentucky on Wednesday against Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) AFP via Getty Images

Hebron is located in Boone County, Ky., just south of Cincinnati.

The White House made its feelings on Massie clear.

“You can have differences, but you have to be constructive. He is not constructive. In fact, he’s the Democrats’ favorite member,” a senior administration official told The Post.

Massie has outraged the White House on multiple occasions: he refused to support Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which was the president’s signature domestic policy agenda; he criticized Trump’s foreign policy and accused him of executive overreach on the attacks on drug boats and Iran; and he led the charge on demanding the Justice Department release all its files in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Now Trump is going to Massie’s district along the Ohio River to campaign against him, with the primary election just a little more than two months away, on May 19th.

Massie won’t be there.

US Representative Thomas Massie questions US Attorney General Pam Bondi at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. — Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has outraged the White House on numerous occasions AFP via Getty Images

“Congressman Massie will not be attending as he has a previously scheduled official event,” his campaign told The Post.

Trump has railed against Massie as “the worst Republican.”

He took a swipe at his biggest naysayer when he spoke to House Republicans at their retreat at Trump Doral on Monday.

“The Republican Party has fantastic spirit, the level I don’t think has been seen before,” Trump said. “We have to get a couple of people on board, which at least one case is virtually impossible. I wonder who that might be, sick person.”

It’s believed he was talking about Massie, who was not seen in the audience.

In contrast, Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, has praised Trump, his policies and his handling of the war in Iran.

For his part, Massie has been posting Trump’s videos and comments attacking him, hoping to turn the criticism from the president into support from voters.

The May primary will be a test of Trump’s power with Republican voters. It’ll also be seen as a barometer of Trump’s messaging on the economy.

The White House has argued the cost of living is down but rising gas prices – from the attack on Iran – have dominated the news. Still, the president will tout his work on the issue.

“President Trump will visit the great states of Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic victories and detail his administration’s aggressive, ongoing efforts to lower prices and make America more affordable,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston told The Post.

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Kentucky

Northern Kentucky Norsemen claim Kentucky state hockey championship

Published

1 day ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Northern Kentucky Norsemen claim Kentucky state hockey championship

Northern Kentucky brought home the Kentucky High School Hockey league state championship once again.

The Northern Kentucky Norsemen defeated Owensboro in dominant 5-0 fashion on March 8 to hoist the trophy. The Norsemen, comprised of players from schools across Northern Kentucky, earned their fourth state title since 2017. The Norsemen previously won in 2017, 2019 and 2023.

After entering the tournament as the top-seeded team, two wins brought the Norsemen to a 27-12-2 final record.

The Norsemen’s defense was in peak performance in the finals. Despite Owensboro getting off over 30 shots, senior goalkeeper Chase Bender kept a clean sheet.

On offense, junior Trevor Bauwens led the Norse, finishing the season with 35 goals and 12 assists. Other key offensive performers were seniors Mitchell Kirby and Samuel Mouser. Kirby ended the year with 19 goals and 22 assists, while Mouser had 16 goals and a team-best 30 assists.

Northern Kentucky is now set to represent the state in the USA Hockey High School National Championships. The tournament be held March 18-22 in Plymouth, Minnesota.

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