220: The Murder of Rhonda Oakley

WEBVTT

1
00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:12.320
Southern Fried true crime covers cases that
are not suitable for young listeners, and

2
00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:21.960
there may also be some explicit language
used. Listener discretion is advised. September

3
00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:27.480
one, twenty sixteen, was a
warm and partly cloudy afternoon in central Kentucky.

4
00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:33.119
Fifty two year old Ronda Oakley pulled
in her driveway in Junction City at

5
00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:38.679
around three pm. She was home
early after attending a conference in Louisville the

6
00:00:38.759 --> 00:00:44.159
day before. She loved her job
and had fun at the conference, but

7
00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:47.799
she and her husband, Philip had
missed each other, even though it was

8
00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:52.240
just one night apart. Though they
had been married a couple of years,

9
00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:57.359
they were practically still in their honeymoon
phase, and Ronda had recently become a

10
00:00:57.399 --> 00:01:03.039
full time stepmother. She hadn't expected
to be parenting again at her age,

11
00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:07.200
but she happily took on the role
and loved her husband's kids like they were

12
00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:11.719
her own. Ronda had adult children
of her own, who had all long

13
00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:17.000
since flown the nest. Philip Oakeley
had two children from his previous marriage,

14
00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:23.400
a daughter fifteen year old Jenna and
son thirteen year old David. They had

15
00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.239
been living in Arlington, Indiana,
with their mother, Christie, but a

16
00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:30.159
few months earlier, Jenna had asked
if she could move in with her dad.

17
00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:36.599
Philip had told his children his door
was always open, so he was

18
00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:40.400
glad to have Jenna come live with
him, and her brother David decided to

19
00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:45.000
come with her. The children had
adjusted to their new school, and for

20
00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:49.319
Philip it was a chance to develop
a deeper relationship with his kids. He

21
00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:55.519
and Ronda were intent on providing a
warm and supportive environment where they hoped the

22
00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:00.280
kids would thrive. But just five
months after Jenna and David moved on that

23
00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:10.080
warm late summer afternoon, Ronda Oakley
was found viciously murdered. Welcome to episode

24
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:21.199
two twenty, The Murder of Ronda
Oakley. Ronda Denise Rains was born on

25
00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:25.120
March fifth, nineteen sixty four,
to parents Howard and Mabel. She and

26
00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:30.400
her older sister, Patty grew up
in Liberty, a town in Casey County,

27
00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:35.080
Kentucky. Sadly, in nineteen seventy
one, when Ronda was just seven

28
00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:39.479
years old, her father, Howard, passed away. In December nineteen eighty

29
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:44.719
one, seventeen year old Ronda married
a twenty two year old young man named

30
00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:49.719
Bobby Joe and graduated from Casey County
High School in May the following year.

31
00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:54.800
The couple had a son and daughter, Joey and Jennifer. This marriage didn't

32
00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:59.800
last long, and young Ronda went
on to marry again to a man named

33
00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:04.680
Donald, and she had three more
children, Courtney, Caitlin, and Daniel.

34
00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:09.680
Unfortunately, this marriage didn't last either. Now a single mom to five

35
00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:15.199
children, Ronda worked hard to give
her kids a good life. She was

36
00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:19.319
a customer service manager at R.
R. Donnelly in Danville, Kentucky,

37
00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:23.639
where she had worked happily for thirty
years. She was respected and very well

38
00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:30.120
liked by her co workers. Bronda's
family and friends say she was outgoing,

39
00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:35.639
bubbly, and known for being generous
and loving, the kind of friendly lady

40
00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:39.560
who never met a stranger, and
for a while she wasn't interested in another

41
00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:45.000
husband. She just wanted to take
care of her kids. Frankly, she

42
00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:50.759
was probably too busy working and raising
kids to focus on her love life.

43
00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:53.360
But by two thousand and eight,
with all her kids moved out, the

44
00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:59.639
forty four year old was enjoying taking
time for herself and exploring the possibility of

45
00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:04.240
findal love again. One day,
sitting at the bar in Danville's Old Bridge

46
00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:10.319
Golf Club, Ronda met thirty seven
year old Philip Oakley. Philip was a

47
00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:15.800
quieter personality than Ronda, much more
reserved, but opposites often attract, and

48
00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:21.000
pretty much from the day they met, Ronda and Philip were inseparable, and

49
00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:25.959
they had more in common than just
golf. Philip, who worked as a

50
00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:30.319
production supervisor, was also divorced and
a single parent, though it was part

51
00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:36.839
time and his kids were still little
elementary school ages. In two thousand and

52
00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:43.160
eight, Jenna would have been about
seven and David five. The Oakley kids

53
00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:46.920
lived in Arlington, Indiana with their
mom, Christy Woodpoe, but Philip maintains

54
00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:51.839
he had a close relationship with them. He saw his children every other weekend.

55
00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:57.360
It was a three hour drive six
total for just a two day visit,

56
00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:00.199
but he said he was close to
his children and loved having them home

57
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:05.079
with him. That drive was definitely
worth it for everyone, and his new

58
00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:11.360
wife, Ronda soon loved spending time
with his kids as a family. On

59
00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:15.240
December twenty seventh, twenty thirteen,
Philip and Ronda tied the knot in a

60
00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:20.439
low key ceremony. They looked forward
to blending their families and spending the rest

61
00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:26.439
of their lives together. For a
while, it was mostly just them too.

62
00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:30.720
They worked and spent a lot of
that wonderful newlywent time together. Ronda

63
00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:35.680
was totally devoted to the couple's three
docks and dogs, Cinderella, Jonas,

64
00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:41.879
and Oliver, and by the time
they were married, Ronda had four grand

65
00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:47.199
babies, soon to be five.
Like most grandparents, Ronda adored those babies

66
00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:54.079
and had close relationships with all her
kids. She and Philip lived in a

67
00:05:54.079 --> 00:06:00.839
small town called Junction City on the
outskirts of Danville. The population has hovered

68
00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:05.480
under twenty three hundred people for the
last couple of decades. Junction City and

69
00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:11.600
Greater Danville are nestled in the beautiful
rolling hills of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky,

70
00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:16.879
where agriculture is still the main industry, especially horse breeding. You get

71
00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:21.160
all four seasons in this gorgeous area. They still get the hot and humid

72
00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:28.079
southern summers, but they have actual
autumns and springs, unlike states further south.

73
00:06:29.480 --> 00:06:32.439
Danville is known as the birthplace of
bluegrass, and it's also a college

74
00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:38.879
town home to the Liberal Arts School
Center College. I also live in a

75
00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:43.639
small community outside of a college town. We not only have our own community

76
00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:47.000
Facebook group, my neighborhood even has
its own group. We look out for

77
00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:51.800
each other and feel very safe out
here. Junction City is a lot like

78
00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:57.160
that. Neighbors know each other's business
but also look out for each other,

79
00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:00.959
and it's a really safe place to
live. On a scale of one to

80
00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.920
one hundred, Junction City ranks at
seven point two, and its crime rate

81
00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:10.279
not to be a smarty pants,
but there's not much crime because there's not

82
00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:15.079
much to do. Oh, there's
plenty of outdoor activities and creeks and woods,

83
00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:20.160
But when you go to websites even
local message boards, most things listed

84
00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:26.040
are for nearby towns and cities,
which is just fine because if you want

85
00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:30.920
to buy a house, they're actually
still affordable Injunction City. It's definitely still

86
00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.439
a seller's market, but you can
certainly get more out of a house there

87
00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:39.160
for your dollars. And I did
see a couple of million dollar homes,

88
00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:43.600
but they're not really mansions. Their
price is based on hundreds of acreage on

89
00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:48.360
those properties. Lots of folks like
living in small towns for these very reasons

90
00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:54.279
they can commute to larger cities while
having a nice house and or lots of

91
00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:58.160
land to come home to. Not
that Danville would really be much of a

92
00:07:58.199 --> 00:08:01.399
commute it takes a little over two
ten minutes to get there, date nights

93
00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:07.680
in Danville would have been easy for
Philip and Ronda. A little over two

94
00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:11.319
years into their marriage, in April
twenty sixteen, was when fifteen year old

95
00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:16.560
Jenna decided she wanted to live with
her dad after she had been fighting with

96
00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:20.040
her mom. As promised, Philip's
store was always open to his daughter.

97
00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:26.240
Philip and Ronda welcomed the teen into
their home without question, with thirteen year

98
00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:31.600
old David soon joining his sister.
Philip and Ronda both wanted to provide as

99
00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:37.080
safe and stable a new home for
their children as possible. While many kids

100
00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:41.679
struggled to adjust to a new home, environment and social setting, the Oakly

101
00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:46.720
children were really doing well. Jenna
was a good student and cheerleader at Boyle

102
00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:54.279
County High School. Philip was overwhelmed
with the kindness, support, and generosity

103
00:08:54.679 --> 00:09:00.399
Ronda showed towards her two step children, later telling WBRD News if there was

104
00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:05.440
a book written about the perfect wife
the perfect mother, the perfect nana that

105
00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.480
would be my wife. I know
she made me a better person. She

106
00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:15.159
changed my life. I'm going to
pause now for a short commercial break.

107
00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:26.840
That September first, David rode the
bus home from school and was dropped off

108
00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:30.679
at four pm. When he got
there, no one else was home.

109
00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:33.200
Jenna wasn't home from school yet,
and his dad was still at work.

110
00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:37.000
His stepmom, Ronda, should be
on her way home from out of town.

111
00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:43.559
She had been at that conference in
Louisville. Before starting his homework,

112
00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:48.399
David loaded the dishwasher, which was
one of his chores. He could hear

113
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:52.679
the dogs barking and howling from down
in the basement. No one else was

114
00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:58.200
home, so it was odd that
they were making such a racket. When

115
00:09:58.279 --> 00:10:01.840
David went downstairs to see what the
thus was about, he could see the

116
00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:07.039
dogs were scratching at the spare bedroom
door. There were two bedrooms, Jenna's

117
00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:11.080
in this room that the dogs were
barking at. Opening the door and turning

118
00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:16.279
on the light, David was confronted
with a gruesome sight. Ronda's body lay

119
00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:22.240
face up, motionless on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her head.

120
00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:28.080
A panic and I'm sure hysterical.
David ran next door, where a

121
00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:33.600
neighbor called nine one one. When
officers arrived, they found Ronda had been

122
00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:37.559
brutally attacked, stabbed multiple times on
her neck. There was a trash bag

123
00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:43.240
over her face and duct tape on
her mouth. The cops opened Jenna's door

124
00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:48.159
and saw a trash can with vomit
in it. There was no sign of

125
00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:52.799
a murder weapon, but upstairs the
knife block in the kitchen was missing a

126
00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:58.759
knife. Philip soon pulled into the
driveway coming home from work. David had

127
00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:01.639
our what he called his cell phone, so he was in a panic.

128
00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:09.840
Daddy Ronda's gone was all the kid
could get out. Seeing first responders vehicles

129
00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:15.559
and his distraught son outside the house, his stomach dropped. When Kentucky State

130
00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:20.080
Police broke the news that Ronda had
been murdered, the shock and pain had

131
00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:24.080
filled up like a ton of bricks. His wife was the most generous,

132
00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:28.840
giving person he had ever met.
Everyone loved her. Why would someone want

133
00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:33.039
to kill her and in such a
vicious way. That kind of attack didn't

134
00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:37.559
look like a run of the mill
robbery. There were no signs of forced

135
00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:41.480
entry, so it didn't seem like
a break in or home invasion, but

136
00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:48.679
still robbery could be a motive.
Ronda's twenty fourteen white Honda Civic was missing

137
00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:52.279
from the driveway, so a BOLO
was issued for the vehicle. So far,

138
00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:58.519
the car looked like the only thing
missing except for fifteen year old Jenna

139
00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:03.960
had been at work all day,
so he wasn't a suspect. He was

140
00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:09.120
with law enforcement doing everything he could
to help. He told police that he

141
00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:13.159
had gotten a message from Boyle County
High School that Jenna was absent. He

142
00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:18.720
had thought she was homesick. Now
he and the police were worried that Jenna

143
00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:24.519
had witnessed the murder and had been
abducted. As the hours passed and Jenna

144
00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.879
didn't show up or call, Philip
later said he just knew in his gut

145
00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:35.840
almost right away that he knew who
did this. He told police about Jenna's

146
00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:39.399
ex boyfriend, twenty year old Kenneth
Ryan Nye, who was from Arlington,

147
00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:46.000
Indiana. The couple had been dating
for several years, back from when Jenna

148
00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:48.919
was living there with her mom.
They rode the same school bus, though

149
00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:54.440
they would have been several grades apart
at the time they met. Jenna would

150
00:12:54.480 --> 00:13:00.559
have been twelve years old at most, and Kenneth seventeen okay, sidebar,

151
00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:07.559
almost a legal adult. Kenneth committed
a crime by grooming this supposedly romantic relationship

152
00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:11.679
with a child. I say supposedly
because at that age you're just not old

153
00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:18.799
enough to understand and participate in actual
romantic love. I mean, seriously,

154
00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:24.279
some girls at twelve years old have
not even had their first period. Sexual

155
00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:30.159
contact with children that age is and
should be a crime. However, there

156
00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:35.559
are Romeo and Juliet laws or practices
in many states. Authorities take into consideration

157
00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:41.200
that there's a difference between an almost
grown man and a preteen and say a

158
00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:48.720
relationship between a fifteen and seventeen year
old named after Shakespeare's Young Lovers. Romeo

159
00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:54.960
and Juliet exceptions protect young adults from
prosecution when they are in a consensual relationship

160
00:13:54.320 --> 00:14:00.000
with someone close in age. So
these laws basically take the age to deface

161
00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:03.679
friends and count the years. Four
to five years is typically the cutoff for

162
00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:09.759
authorities to step in, but along
with the five year age gap, children

163
00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:16.279
under twelve years of age cannot consent
to a sexual relationship. In twenty sixteen,

164
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:20.519
in Kentucky, the age of consent
was sixteen years old, and there

165
00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:24.639
were no Romeo and Juliet laws.
In effect, that means that any individual

166
00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:31.840
who engaged in sexual conduct with a
minor under sixteen could face prosecution for statutory

167
00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.720
rape. For the record, in
Indiana, the cutoff is four years.

168
00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:43.440
Indiana's Romeo and Juliet law allows fourteen
and fifteen year olds to consent to sexual

169
00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:48.279
activity with their peers under certain conditions. So Jenna's mother definitely could have pressed

170
00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:54.519
charges. We will get into that
more later. At this point it doesn't

171
00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:58.000
matter for this case, but before
I get corrected, as of February twenty

172
00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:03.919
twenty four, Kentucky does have Romeo
and Juliet laws right now, when a

173
00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:07.799
child is fourteen or fifteen and the
partner is younger than twenty one, the

174
00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:13.200
Romeo and Juliet exception would apply,
and Jenna and Kenneth would have been in

175
00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:16.879
the right age range. As much
as we might not like it, I

176
00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:20.559
just wanted to give you an overview
of what Philip and Ronda could have done,

177
00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:24.879
as well as what Jenna's mother,
Christie, could have done when the

178
00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:31.799
relationship first began legally. But there
is also this there are Romeo and Juliet

179
00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:37.879
laws, and then there is the
Romeo and Juliet effect. Try to split

180
00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:41.919
up a young couple and you just
push them closer together. Tearing them apart

181
00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:48.120
makes them become more infatuated with each
other. Having said that what Kenneth and

182
00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:52.200
I was doing was criminal, and
as a parent, I would have reacted

183
00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:58.080
exactly how Philip and Ronda do,
but you do run the risk of Juliette

184
00:15:58.279 --> 00:16:04.960
digging her heel. When Philip and
Ronda learned about the inappropriate relationship after Jenna

185
00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:11.519
moved to Kentucky, they were immediately
concerned. They banned Jenna from having contact

186
00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:17.360
with Kenneth and confiscated her cell phone. Philip called Kenny and threatened to report

187
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:22.320
him to the police, which seemed
to do the trick. Both Kenny and

188
00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:26.639
Jenna seemed to take Philip and Ronda's
concerns seriously and agreed to part ways.

189
00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:32.840
Philip said he called Kenny directly told
him to leave his daughter alone, and

190
00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:37.399
threatened him with statutory rape charges.
He said Kenny sounded genuine when he agreed

191
00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:44.159
to no longer see Jenna. Many
parents might have pressed charges, hell I

192
00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:48.919
might have, but it really can
make things much worse. You don't want

193
00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:52.559
to alienate your kid even more by
pressing charges. You will seem much more

194
00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:56.919
reasonable and forgiving if you give them
a chance to do the right thing and

195
00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:02.960
end the relationship willingly. But there's
no doubt it is a complex problem to

196
00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:06.839
have with a young teen, and
parents have to make the call they believe

197
00:17:06.920 --> 00:17:12.920
is right. Okay, sidebar over. After Philip explained the situation with his

198
00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:18.960
daughter to the police, the priority
for detectives was finding Jenna and tracking down

199
00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:25.200
Kenneth Nye, if only to eliminate
him as a suspect. After graduating from

200
00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:29.839
high school, Kinney had enlisted in
the Army and was now stationed at Fort

201
00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:34.319
Carson, Colorado. He might have
an alibi. According to military records,

202
00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:38.720
he was on active duty, So
could he have really driven almost twelve hundred

203
00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:42.920
miles to kidnap Jenna after being out
of contact with her for so long.

204
00:17:45.640 --> 00:17:49.720
But a detective from the Kentucky State
Police named Frank Thrownberry was an ex mariine,

205
00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:55.000
so he gave the Fort Carson base
a call and asked for a favor.

206
00:17:56.519 --> 00:18:00.440
He found out that Kenny had changed
his mind about the army. In

207
00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:03.880
fact, He had recently applied for
a discharge on the basis of being a

208
00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:10.720
conscientious objector, but then he found
out that if he failed his fitness test,

209
00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:15.839
he could be discharged more quickly.
When he intentionally failed all of his

210
00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:22.279
physical fitness tests, he received a
dishonorable discharge on August thirty first, the

211
00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:29.119
day before Ronda's murder. After his
discharge, the Army paid for a flight

212
00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:34.039
back to Indiana and even dropped him
off at the airport, but investigators learned

213
00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:38.960
that at the last minute, his
ticket was changed. At three thirty pm

214
00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:45.519
the same day as his discharge,
Kenneth arrived at the Bluegrass Airport in Lexington,

215
00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:51.519
Kentucky, about a fifty minute drive
from Danville. Had Kenny decided to

216
00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:59.599
surprise Jenna before heading back to Indiana. CCTV footage from the airport tracked Kenney

217
00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:04.279
from his gate all the way outside
to the taxi and rideshare area. That's

218
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:08.839
one thing about more modern cases.
It is sometimes amazing how far you can

219
00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:15.880
be followed on CCTV as long as
detectives are willing to patiently search through footage,

220
00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:21.599
and in this case they will.
But the trail ended here when Kenny

221
00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.400
took an Uber instead of a cab, but at least they were now sure

222
00:19:25.880 --> 00:19:29.640
that Kenny and I was in Kentucky
and they had a recent photo of him.

223
00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:34.200
From the footage, detectives decided to
release details to the media about fifteen

224
00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:38.759
year old Jenna Oakley. This was
not an Amber alert, but bulletins on

225
00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:47.640
the news stations. Luckily, an
uber driver remembered Kenneth Nye he had picked

226
00:19:47.720 --> 00:19:52.599
him up from the airport. The
driver told detectives he remembered a guy named

227
00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:56.119
Kenny and where he dropped him off, on the street where the Oakleys lived.

228
00:19:56.839 --> 00:20:00.920
He remembered Kenny saying he had just
left the Army that he was visiting

229
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:07.319
some old friends who lived just down
the street. The driver thought it was

230
00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:11.640
strange that he didn't want him to
pull up to the door, but Kenny

231
00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:15.200
said he wanted to surprise his friends
and to drop him off at the end

232
00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:19.519
of the street. They lived on
Old Houstonville Road. That was on the

233
00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:27.000
afternoon of August thirty first, about
twenty four hours before Rhonda's murder. I'm

234
00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:33.519
going to pause now to a word
from our sponsors. This show is sponsored

235
00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:37.960
by Betterhelp. The year is half
over. How did it go so quickly?

236
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:41.400
When life goes so fast, it's
important to take a moment to celebrate

237
00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:45.640
your wins and make adjustments for the
rest of the year. Therapy can help

238
00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:51.119
you take stock of your progress and
set achievable goals for the next six months.

239
00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:56.039
Beyond how much therapy has helped me
with major traumas, it also really

240
00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:59.799
helps me stay on track in my
life, focusing on being the best version

241
00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:03.680
of myself by helping me learn positive
coping skills. If you're thinking of starting

242
00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:07.960
therapy, give Better Help a try. It's entirely online, designed to be

243
00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:12.000
convenient, flexible, and suited to
your schedule. Just fill out a brief

244
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:18.079
questionnaire to get matched with a licensed
therapist and switch therapists at any time for

245
00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:23.440
no additional charge. Take a moment
visit Betterhelp dot com slash Southern today to

246
00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:29.759
get ten percent off your first month. That's Better Help h e lp dot

247
00:21:29.799 --> 00:21:36.960
com slash Southern. This episode is
sponsored by Acorns. Investing can feel intimidating

248
00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:40.000
for a lot of us. We
often think it takes a lot of money

249
00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:45.240
to invest, but with Acorns,
it doesn't invest spare change, invest while

250
00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:49.720
you spend and earn bonus investments,
shopping your favorite brands. Small actions can

251
00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:53.920
make a big impact on your future. From Acorns Mighty Oaks, do grow.

252
00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:59.400
Acorns makes it easy to start automatically
saving and investing for your future.

253
00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:03.200
You don't need a lot of money
or expertise to invest with acorns. In

254
00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:07.480
fact, you can get started with
just your spare change. Acorns recommends an

255
00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:11.720
expert built portfolio that fits you and
your money goals, then automatically invests your

256
00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:15.920
money for you. Like many people, I know little to nothing about investing,

257
00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:19.799
but Acorns has made it so much
easier. Using Acorns has been a

258
00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:25.480
huge relief because there's nothing more important
than the future. Head to acorns dot

259
00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:30.400
com slash Southern Fried or download the
Acorns app to start saving and investing for

260
00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:36.359
your future today. Paid nonclient endorsement
compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns.

261
00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:41.279
Investing involves risks. Acorns Advisor's LLC
is an SEC registered investment advisor. Do

262
00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:45.920
you important disclosures at acorns dot com
slash Southern Fried. If you're like me,

263
00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.839
you toss and turn at night trying
to get comfortable because you're just too

264
00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:55.720
hot. Bowl and branch sheets are
woven to allow airflow and feel cool and

265
00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:59.839
crisp to the touch, making sure
you never sleep hot again. Bowl and

266
00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:04.240
Branch has amazing options for hot sleepers. Choose from one hundred percent organic cotton

267
00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:08.480
Parkhale made with a naturally cooling weave, or linen, which is made from

268
00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:14.400
European flax to be light, airy
and softer than soft. Bowlin Branch sheets

269
00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.480
are silky soft and get even softer
with every wash, and I love that

270
00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:22.000
you don't skimp on style and beauty
to get a good night's sleep. Bowlin

271
00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:26.319
Branch's signature sheets are loved by millions
of sleepers and have over eleven thousand five

272
00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:32.880
star reviews. Get your coolest,
most comfortable sleep during Bowlin Branch's annual summer

273
00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:37.559
event with twenty percent off site wide
plus free shipping on your first set of

274
00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:44.240
sheets at Bowlinbranch dot com slash SFTC. That's Bowl and Branch b O L

275
00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:49.319
L A N D Branch dot com
slash SFTC for twenty percent off and free

276
00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:56.319
shipping. Limited time only exclusions apply. Sea site for details. Detective set

277
00:23:56.359 --> 00:24:02.519
to work tracking Kinney's cell phone if
they could locate him. Hopefully they would

278
00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:07.400
find Jenna safe and unharmed. Soon, Kenny cel pinged in the city of

279
00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:14.160
Glasgow, about one hundred miles southwest
of Danville. A description of Jenna had

280
00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:18.279
already been released as a potential abductee. Now another BOLO was issued, this

281
00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:23.880
time for both Jenna and her ex
boyfriend. But Kenny's cell phone was moving

282
00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:30.599
and was next picked up around IS
sixty five near Nashville, Tennessee. Unfortunately,

283
00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:37.119
investigators were not receiving the location information
in real time to determine what route

284
00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:41.400
Kenneth might be taking. By the
time they got the notification of a new

285
00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:47.240
location, there was a delay of
up to forty five minutes. According to

286
00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:51.279
Kinney's cell phone carrier. This was
because the phone was being turned on and

287
00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:56.279
off. By the next day,
a tip came in reporting a sighting of

288
00:24:56.359 --> 00:25:00.759
Jenna. A Walmart store manager in
Danville called and meant to say that on

289
00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:06.480
September first, the teen was spotted
in their store. When law enforcement reviewed

290
00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:14.480
the CCTV footage, Jenna could clearly
be seen and accompanying her was Kenneth and

291
00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:18.400
I. He was wearing the same
T shirt he had on at the airport.

292
00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:22.400
It's still broad daylight in the footage
as they walk into the store,

293
00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:30.839
probably not long after Ronda's murder.
Jenna didn't appear injured or distressed, and

294
00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:34.279
her body language was relaxed as she
made her way around the store with Guiney.

295
00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:40.400
She certainly didn't look like she was
being held against her will or coerced

296
00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:45.279
in any way. She touched Kenny's
arm in an intimate gesture as they walked

297
00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:51.400
through the store, and Jenna was
walking ahead of Kenny like she knew where

298
00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:56.240
she was going. They bought a
phone charger, and Detective Thrownberry said,

299
00:25:56.599 --> 00:26:02.680
the closer he watched, he noticed
they walked quickly and looked stressed. They

300
00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:06.440
walked out of the store back into
the parking lot and got into a car

301
00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:11.960
that looked very much like Ronda's missing
Honda and drove off. In one way,

302
00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:17.640
Jenna's demeanor from the footage was a
relief for detectives and her family to

303
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:22.440
know that she was okay, but
it raised a lot of other troubling questions.

304
00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:26.880
What did Jenna know about Ronda's murder
despite her age, Could she possibly

305
00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:30.680
have been involved in the murder?
Why has she left home and not made

306
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:37.480
contact with her father? The answers
quickly came together as officers searched Jenna's bedroom

307
00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:42.359
and found her journal. In an
entry day to July seventh, less than

308
00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:47.559
two months earlier, she had written, I just got done talking to him

309
00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:51.240
a few moments ago, and I
feel so much better than what I did.

310
00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:55.960
The latest we will be together is
August twentieth. I really can't wait.

311
00:26:56.599 --> 00:26:59.960
Every doubt that I've had these last
days are gone. I love him

312
00:27:00.119 --> 00:27:03.720
so much, and I know he
loves me too. The he Jenna was

313
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:07.960
writing about was Kenneth Nye, and
despite what the couple had led Philip and

314
00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:12.559
Ronda to believe, they had not
broken up at all, at least from

315
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:18.960
Jenna's perspective, they were very much
intent on being together, with Kenny taking

316
00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:23.640
active steps for them to be reunited. Jenna wasn't worried about her father and

317
00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:30.519
stepmother's objections to the relationship, writing
in one of several chilling entries, they'll

318
00:27:30.519 --> 00:27:37.480
be dead soon, thankfully. Going
a sinister step further, Jenna had also

319
00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:41.119
set out a detailed bullet point list
of how her plan would be executed,

320
00:27:41.559 --> 00:27:48.960
which read as follows. Kill Philip
first between four am and five am two

321
00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:53.319
knives prepared with me. Kill David, last, kill Ronda. Second,

322
00:27:53.759 --> 00:28:00.319
between six am and eight am.
Kill David in his room. Ask Philip

323
00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:03.599
to go downstairs real quick. Then
as we're going down, slice his neck

324
00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:08.960
in the front, walk into Ronda's
bedroom and stab her. Stab David in

325
00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:15.240
his bed. Another grizzly to do
list noted, let him know about my

326
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:19.160
plan, have a bag packed and
prepared, have a knife prepared. Stabbed

327
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:26.720
them. The blind, hatred and
callousness of Jenna's journal was shocking. Philip

328
00:28:26.759 --> 00:28:30.759
now knew there was no way his
daughter was innocent or that she had been

329
00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:37.559
abducted. It was obvious she had
had a roll in Ronda's murder, but

330
00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:44.559
how much did she actually kill Ronda
or did Kenny. Throughout September second,

331
00:28:44.920 --> 00:28:48.440
investigators could tell from the pings from
Kenney's cell that he and Jenna were covering

332
00:28:48.519 --> 00:28:53.559
a lot of ground as they headed
west. They continued through Tennessee, into

333
00:28:53.640 --> 00:29:00.759
Missouri, Arkansas, and then Oklahoma. That was until September third, when

334
00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:06.440
they apparently stopped. They peemed in
the same place for a while, but

335
00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:11.519
they were now over one thousand miles
away in Tuocambe Carey, New Mexico.

336
00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:17.640
Kentucky State Police contacted the touocamb Carrey
Police Department, who were soon on the

337
00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:22.359
lookout for Ronda's Honda and the two
fugitives. Kinney's cell phone pings placed the

338
00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:27.000
vehicle, possibly at a truck stop, so local officers swung into action.

339
00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:33.000
That night, in the parking lot
of a motel six along Route sixty six

340
00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:41.039
Boulevard, Corporal Cody Birch spotted a
vehicle matching the description and license plates approaching

341
00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:45.200
in the darkness. He shined his
flashlight into the car and saw a young

342
00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:51.079
couple inside who appeared to be asleep. The girl was leaning against the guy,

343
00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:55.160
kind of cuddled up, but when
she saw the light, she jumped

344
00:29:55.200 --> 00:30:00.400
back straight into the driver's seat.
Ignoring the officer's instruction to roll down her

345
00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:06.119
window. She started the car.
Corporal Birch drew his weapon, keeping it

346
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:08.720
safely pointed at the ground, and
he could see the young man talking to

347
00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:15.240
the girl. After a few moments, the engines shut off. When back

348
00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:18.920
up arrived, Jenna and Kenny were
arrested. They willingly stepped out of the

349
00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:25.279
vehicle with their hands in the air. Burch said Kenny seemed resigned to his

350
00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:30.359
fate, but Jenna was distressed.
She was crying, but she told officers

351
00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:36.000
right away who her boyfriend was,
Kenny Ny, she said. The cop

352
00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:40.160
later said she was wailing over and
over. Tell Kenny, I love him.

353
00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:44.880
Make sure you tell him I love
him. If you watch the footage,

354
00:30:45.079 --> 00:30:48.359
this isn't the confident young woman who
walked through Walmart. It's a crying

355
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:56.039
teenager. They were separated and taken
into custody. Kenny was charged with contributing

356
00:30:56.079 --> 00:31:00.680
to the delinquency of a miner,
and both were charged with possessing stolen property.

357
00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:06.880
Jenna was put into juvenile detention while
Kenny was taken to the Quay County

358
00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:11.839
Jail. Inside Ronda's car, New
Mexico State Police found the mess of two

359
00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:15.920
people who had been living in the
car while they were on the run.

360
00:31:17.079 --> 00:31:21.599
Clothes, snacks, energy drinks,
food wrappers, and empty bottles were strewn

361
00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:26.160
all over the car. Just thirty
six hours later, on September fifth,

362
00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:33.000
two days before Ronda's funeral, Philip
learned that Kenny had been released. According

363
00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:38.039
to online prison records, Ronda's family
was anxiously watching the website waiting for Kenny

364
00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:44.000
and Jenna to be extradited. Some
news reports even stated Kenneth had been bonded

365
00:31:44.039 --> 00:31:49.039
out, but this wasn't true.
When Kentucky State Police found out what was

366
00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:55.039
behind the reports, it somewhat set
Philip's mind at ease. Kenny and I

367
00:31:55.079 --> 00:32:00.240
had not been released. He had
been transported to a hospital in Texas was

368
00:32:00.279 --> 00:32:05.640
in critical condition. Within hours of
being taken to jail, he had hanged

369
00:32:05.720 --> 00:32:09.039
himself with his blanket. He was
still alive, but was now on life

370
00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:15.359
support. Inside his jail cell was
a note which read, I Kenneth Nye

371
00:32:15.640 --> 00:32:20.839
admit to killing Ronda Oakley. Jenna
had nothing to do with it. She

372
00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:23.720
was not in the house when I
killed Ronda. I take blame for everything.

373
00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:30.599
I am truly sorry. The note
was a convenient way for Jenna to

374
00:32:30.599 --> 00:32:35.519
be absolved of any responsibility in Ronda's
murder, but the idea that she was

375
00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:42.000
totally blameless didn't job with the calculated
and premeditated journal entries planning the murder of

376
00:32:42.039 --> 00:32:46.559
her whole family. Investigators held back
on telling Jenna what had happened to her

377
00:32:46.599 --> 00:32:52.480
boyfriend until she could be formally questioned
by Kentucky State Police. If by some

378
00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:58.279
chance, she admitted to being the
orchestrator. This would prove Kinney was lying

379
00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:04.559
in the note. On September twelfth, Jenna was extradited to Kentucky and held

380
00:33:04.599 --> 00:33:09.279
without bond. Kentucky State detectives said
she was informed of her rights and that

381
00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:16.839
Philip agreed to the interview. Jenna
confessed to everything. She confirmed that her

382
00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:22.400
relationship with kenny Ny never ended and
that she continued to communicate with him by

383
00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:29.359
using a friend's cell phone while she
was at school. Jenna also admitted that

384
00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:32.240
the night before Rondo was murdered,
Kinny secretly spent the night with her in

385
00:33:32.279 --> 00:33:38.559
her bedroom after taking that uber to
the house. Jenna even said she had

386
00:33:38.599 --> 00:33:44.680
taken the knife some time in the
night before so they would be ready the

387
00:33:44.759 --> 00:33:49.200
next morning. Philip headed off to
work as usual and Dylan went to school

388
00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:52.559
while Rondo was still out of town. She was due back that evening,

389
00:33:53.880 --> 00:33:59.559
but Jenna stayed home from school with
Kenny hiding in her room. They hung

390
00:33:59.559 --> 00:34:04.359
out and the downstairs area of the
house, but were startled around three pm

391
00:34:04.599 --> 00:34:08.280
when they heard Ronda arrive home earlier
than expected and was walking down to the

392
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:16.320
basement. She was carrying a laundry
basket and walked into Jenna's bedroom. Kenny

393
00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:21.960
jumped in the closet to hide as
Ronda walked in. She was surprised to

394
00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:27.119
see Jenna and immediately asked why she
wasn't in school, which started an argument

395
00:34:27.559 --> 00:34:32.199
that quickly escalated into a physical fight. Jenna told detectives she could see that

396
00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:37.480
Ronda was about to get smart with
her, and so she basically jumped her

397
00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:43.360
stepmother. She was trying to strangle
Ronda, but told detectives Kenny had to

398
00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:46.000
jump out of the closet and help
her because Ronda was bigger than her.

399
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:52.599
He put Ronda in a chokehold and
she seemed to pass out, and then

400
00:34:52.599 --> 00:34:58.400
they dragged her into the other bedroom. Jenna said she covered Ronda's mouth with

401
00:34:58.559 --> 00:35:02.280
duct tape and put the bag over
her head, and then she explained how

402
00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:06.960
she stabbed her in the neck.
The knife didn't go in as easily as

403
00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:12.960
she thought it would, so she
stabbed her up to seven times. Jenna's

404
00:35:12.960 --> 00:35:20.199
telling of Ronda's murder was cold and
detached. Detective Thrunburry said, usually when

405
00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:25.440
you question juveniles, they're very emotional, but Jenna wasn't. She even mentioned

406
00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:30.119
that Kenny was freaking out and puked
in her garbage can. I guess she

407
00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:35.880
was fine. You can hear the
actual recording on the episode of See No

408
00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.440
Evil about this case. You can't
see her for visual nuances, but she

409
00:35:40.480 --> 00:35:46.599
does sound very matter of fact.
Jenna told detectives that they fled in Ronda's

410
00:35:46.599 --> 00:35:51.599
car, then stopped at a gas
station where she threw the murder weapon in

411
00:35:51.639 --> 00:35:54.840
a trash can. She did cry
once in the recording, as she said,

412
00:35:55.440 --> 00:36:00.280
I guess you hear this a lot, and the detective said what she

413
00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:05.400
said, I'm sorry. Then she
dried up immediately. Somehow, I doubt

414
00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:10.159
there are actual tears on her face. When it came time to answer her

415
00:36:10.199 --> 00:36:16.280
own father's painful questions about why Ronda
was killed, Jenna admitted everything to Philip

416
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:22.119
too. Philip waited to call his
daughter until she was awaiting trial, and

417
00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:28.719
basically just asked her, why why
didn't she just run away with Kenny.

418
00:36:29.360 --> 00:36:34.000
Why did they have to kill Ronda. She told him it wasn't that simple

419
00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:38.199
and it was hard to explain.
Philip asked her if she was really going

420
00:36:38.239 --> 00:36:43.280
to kill him, and she said
yes. She also said she planned to

421
00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:49.800
kill her little brother David and She
became exasperated on the call and repeatedly said,

422
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:54.000
what do you want from me?
Philip couldn't believe what he was hearing.

423
00:36:54.480 --> 00:36:59.679
He was seething, angry. It's
hard to explain. Was just not

424
00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:02.599
going to cut it when it came
to the brutal murder of his beloved wife,

425
00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:08.639
not even from his own daughter.
While little information had been released to

426
00:37:08.679 --> 00:37:14.480
the public about suspects or the progress
of the case, Philip did speak to

427
00:37:14.519 --> 00:37:19.960
several news outlets saying he privately knew
who was responsible and the two people that

428
00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:27.719
did this are monsters. Not much
later, Philip was publicly unequivocal and how

429
00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:32.239
he felt about Jenna, saying I
hate my daughter. I want the hardest

430
00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:37.039
thing to happen to my daughter.
Ever, I just don't care. I'm

431
00:37:37.039 --> 00:37:39.280
worried about the people that I need
to protect, and that's not one of

432
00:37:39.320 --> 00:37:44.440
them. This never should have happened. I can't bring my wife back,

433
00:37:44.840 --> 00:37:47.679
but I can sure us health fight
to let everyone know that the system failed

434
00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:54.840
us. There's other people that I
consider responsible for this too. I'm going

435
00:37:54.840 --> 00:38:00.840
to pause now to hear a word
from our sponsors. As you plan your

436
00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:05.079
vacations this year, don't forget to
make sure your home is protected with simply

437
00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:08.639
Safe Home Security, the only system
I use and recommend. With simply Safe,

438
00:38:08.719 --> 00:38:13.079
you can enjoy peace of mind knowing
your home is guarded twenty four to

439
00:38:13.079 --> 00:38:16.159
seven against break ins, fires,
floods, and other threats. And only

440
00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:22.800
simply Safe offers fast Protect monitoring with
lifeguard protection so agents can see and speak

441
00:38:22.840 --> 00:38:27.719
to intruders, deterring crime in real
time. Simply Safe is advanced home security

442
00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:30.840
that puts you first for less than
a dollar a day. Simply Safe blankets

443
00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:36.079
your home and safety every door,
window, and room. Vacations are supposed

444
00:38:36.079 --> 00:38:39.280
to be fun and relaxing, so
it's nice to have a security system protecting

445
00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:44.079
my home, giving me instant peace
of mind. Because with the simply Safe

446
00:38:44.119 --> 00:38:46.639
app, our cameras are right at
my fingertips, so I can check in

447
00:38:46.679 --> 00:38:52.079
whenever I want. By partnering with
simply Safe, I've finally gotten real peace

448
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:54.280
of mind. I want you to
have it too. Get an exclusive twenty

449
00:38:54.320 --> 00:38:59.599
percent off any new simply Safe system
when you sign up for fast Protect monitoring.

450
00:38:59.800 --> 00:39:04.639
Just visit simply safe dot com slash
Southern Fried. That's simplysafe dot com

451
00:39:04.679 --> 00:39:09.159
slash Southern Fried there's no safe like
simply safe. Support for today's episode comes

452
00:39:09.159 --> 00:39:14.719
from Honeylove. Ladies. We all
hate uncomfortable bras, and usually it's the

453
00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:19.079
underware that makes us miserable. I
ditched underwear bras when I found Honeylove.

454
00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:23.960
Honeylove has revolutionized the bra game there. Bras features supportive bonding that eliminates the

455
00:39:24.039 --> 00:39:30.519
need for underwire without sacrificing lift.
Honeylove's best selling crossover bra is so comfortable

456
00:39:30.599 --> 00:39:32.840
it's sure to be your new go
to. This bra gives all the support

457
00:39:32.880 --> 00:39:37.719
of traditional bras without using any underwires. And I also hate bras that create

458
00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:43.159
bulging in the back. Honeylove's braws
are designed with backsmoothing fabric to prevent bra

459
00:39:43.280 --> 00:39:46.599
bulge. Whatever you need, Honeylove's
got you. Honeylove is not just supporting

460
00:39:46.639 --> 00:39:51.280
women, it's empowering women. Treat
yourself to the best bras on the market

461
00:39:51.320 --> 00:39:55.599
and save twenty percent off at honeylove
dot com slash SFTC. Use our exclusive

462
00:39:55.639 --> 00:40:00.840
link to get twenty percent off Honeylove
dot com slash sft see to find your

463
00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:04.039
perfect fit. After you purchase,
they ask you where your heart about them.

464
00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:07.599
Please support our show and tell them
we sent you honeys. You deserve

465
00:40:07.679 --> 00:40:10.599
this. Free the pain and discomfort, keep the support with honey Love.

466
00:40:12.400 --> 00:40:15.559
Whether you live in the South or
it just feels like it in the summer,

467
00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:19.719
you're probably worrying about the strength of
your deodorant. Loomy has got you

468
00:40:19.800 --> 00:40:23.760
covered. Literally. Loomy whole body
deodorant is formulated for all the places that

469
00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:28.159
tend to get stinky in the heat
of summer, like your pits, privates,

470
00:40:28.199 --> 00:40:30.400
and your feet. I have very
sensitive skin and it's hard to find

471
00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:35.119
a product to use on my under
arms, much less anywhere else. Loomy

472
00:40:35.280 --> 00:40:38.480
is awesome. Choose from a variety
of fresh, bright scents like clean tangerine,

473
00:40:38.639 --> 00:40:43.840
lavender, sage, or toasted coconut. Loomy Starter Pack is perfect for

474
00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:47.119
new customers. It comes with a
solidick deodorant, cream tube deodorant, two

475
00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:52.159
free products of your choice like many
body wash and deodorant wipes, and free

476
00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:54.960
shipping. As a special offer for
listeners, new customers get fifteen percent off

477
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.920
all Loomy products with our exclusive code, and if you combine the fifteen percent

478
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:02.840
and off of the already discounted Starter
Pack, that equals over forty percent off

479
00:41:02.880 --> 00:41:07.199
their starter pack. Use code s
f TC for fifteen percent off your first

480
00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:13.360
purchase at Loomydodorant dot com. That's
code s f t C at l U

481
00:41:13.639 --> 00:41:29.360
M E D E O d O
r a nt dot com. Ronda Rains

482
00:41:29.400 --> 00:41:35.199
Oakley was laid to rest on September
seventh after her funeral service at Southland Christian

483
00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:39.519
Church in Danville. In her obituary, all of her children and their spouses

484
00:41:39.559 --> 00:41:45.320
were named, including her step son
David Oakley, but not Jenna. Of

485
00:41:45.360 --> 00:41:51.320
course, Ronda's five small grandchildren were
also named. These babies who had been

486
00:41:51.360 --> 00:41:57.360
such a joy to her. The
obituary even mentions her poor little dogs as

487
00:41:57.400 --> 00:42:00.199
a dog lover. As soon as
I read about the scene, I couldn't

488
00:42:00.199 --> 00:42:05.039
help but wonder if they had seen
what happened to their human mamma. It

489
00:42:05.119 --> 00:42:12.320
was their barking that alerted David to
his stepmother's body downstairs. On October twentieth,

490
00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:16.719
a grand jury indicted Jenna Oakley in
Boyle Circuit Court for complicity to murder

491
00:42:17.079 --> 00:42:22.039
and complicity to theft by unlawful taking. She would be tried as an adult.

492
00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:28.000
Her boyfriend, who had been on
life support, was facing charges of

493
00:42:28.039 --> 00:42:32.159
harboring a minor, but Kenneth would
never see the inside of a court room

494
00:42:32.840 --> 00:42:37.360
because just a couple of days before
Jenna was indicted, he died, having

495
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:45.000
never been removed from the respirator.
It wasn't until Jenna's arraignment in early December,

496
00:42:45.239 --> 00:42:49.440
where she pled not guilty, that
she learned for the first time that

497
00:42:49.599 --> 00:42:52.360
not only was her boyfriend dead,
but that he had been in a coma

498
00:42:52.599 --> 00:43:00.000
since their arrest. She screamed and
wailed in court when she was told detectives

499
00:43:00.199 --> 00:43:05.199
they could hear her from the hallway. Now Jenna was all alone and would

500
00:43:05.199 --> 00:43:10.360
be the sole suspect to face trial. Following the indictment, Philip told ABC

501
00:43:10.519 --> 00:43:15.159
News the whole time, I knew
who did this, and so no,

502
00:43:15.960 --> 00:43:22.239
it is not a surprise. She
deserves everything she gets. Over two years

503
00:43:22.320 --> 00:43:27.920
later, in a pre trial hearing
in January twenty nineteen, police officers testified

504
00:43:27.920 --> 00:43:32.199
about Jenna's demeanor and behavior on her
way back to Kentucky after she arrived.

505
00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:37.480
The defense was doing its best to
have Jenna's confession thrown out on the basis

506
00:43:37.800 --> 00:43:43.079
that she wasn't in the presence of
an attorney during her first interview. Despite

507
00:43:43.119 --> 00:43:49.920
Philip, her parent and legal guardian, giving his permission. Detectives also maintained

508
00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:54.880
that they explained Jenna's rights to her. During those two years awaiting trial,

509
00:43:55.360 --> 00:44:00.559
Jenna had been kept in a juvenile
facility getting mental health treatment as her appointed

510
00:44:00.559 --> 00:44:06.280
defense team investigated her past, trying
to find out how a fifteen year old

511
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:12.480
could become such a cold killer.
And on the other side, the Commonwealth's

512
00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:17.679
attorney was concerned about the conflicting confessions. All they had from Kenny was his

513
00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:23.159
note and it was pretty definitive.
They certainly had Jenna on tape and video,

514
00:44:23.639 --> 00:44:28.559
but she could say the same thing
that she was protecting Kenny and taking

515
00:44:28.599 --> 00:44:34.480
the blame. Also, the Commonwealth
wasn't sure how a jury would feel about

516
00:44:34.519 --> 00:44:37.840
such a young defendant. The judge
had ruled she would be tried as an

517
00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:43.480
adult, but that doesn't mean a
jury will see it that way. So

518
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:47.800
they decided to offer her a plea
deal. She would plead guilty to first

519
00:44:47.800 --> 00:44:54.039
degree manslaughter and theft by taking for
stealing Rhonda's car. She could be sentenced

520
00:44:54.039 --> 00:44:59.159
to ten years in prison for manslaughter
and five for the car. Can you

521
00:44:59.239 --> 00:45:02.599
believe that? Forget about Jenna for
a minute, ten years for taking a

522
00:45:02.719 --> 00:45:08.800
human life, five for taking a
car. A couple of months shy of

523
00:45:08.880 --> 00:45:16.360
her eighteenth birthday, Jenna Pauline Wood
Oakley pled guilty on January fourteenth, twenty

524
00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:23.159
nineteen, to first degree manslaughter and
theft by taking. At a pre sentencing

525
00:45:23.239 --> 00:45:30.280
hearing the following month before Boyle Circuit
Judge Darren Peckler, Jenna expressed remorse,

526
00:45:30.360 --> 00:45:35.400
saying, I cannot tell you how
sorry I am for all the pain,

527
00:45:35.519 --> 00:45:39.320
hurt and great frustration that it has
caused. I cannot tell you how sorry

528
00:45:39.400 --> 00:45:44.039
I am that I did not try
to save her that day. I have

529
00:45:44.119 --> 00:45:47.840
come to accept accountability for my inaction
of not trying to help and save her

530
00:45:47.880 --> 00:45:53.920
that day when she needed most to
be saved. So despite the plea,

531
00:45:54.079 --> 00:45:58.800
she was still saying she didn't kill
Rhonda. She's saying Kenny did it,

532
00:45:59.400 --> 00:46:02.760
but she was responsible for her death
because she didn't try to stop him.

533
00:46:04.199 --> 00:46:07.559
Philip didn't buy any of it.
At no stage had his daughter apologized or

534
00:46:07.599 --> 00:46:12.920
demonstrated remorse over what she had done. This was the first he had heard

535
00:46:12.960 --> 00:46:16.480
any contrition. Now that Jenna's future
was on the line, suddenly she had

536
00:46:16.519 --> 00:46:22.360
found the words she couldn't manage to
say to her own father, and usually

537
00:46:22.480 --> 00:46:29.840
during the elocution phase, the defendant
must explicitly admit, specifically and in detail

538
00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:36.199
the actions and their reasons in exchange
for a reduced sentence. Jenna didn't do

539
00:46:36.280 --> 00:46:38.679
that. I don't know what went
on behind the plea deal, but this

540
00:46:38.719 --> 00:46:45.639
doesn't seem right. Outside court,
Philip said, I just don't think it's

541
00:46:45.679 --> 00:46:49.719
fair. Jenna is a very intelligent
girl, and to be able to tell

542
00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:52.400
me she didn't know what she was
doing, I'll never believe that. I

543
00:46:52.480 --> 00:46:57.840
hate what she did. I don't
necessarily hate my daughter. I want to

544
00:46:57.840 --> 00:47:00.719
be able to forgive my daughter,
but I just I don't know how.

545
00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:06.639
I haven't figured that out yet.
Jenna was facing a maximum of fifteen years

546
00:47:06.639 --> 00:47:10.840
in prison, according to the Lexington
Herald Leader. Given Jenna's age and her

547
00:47:10.880 --> 00:47:15.880
guilty plea, three sentencing options were
open to the court. She could receive

548
00:47:15.920 --> 00:47:22.199
probation or conditional discharge, be committed
to the Department of Juvenile Justice to complete

549
00:47:22.199 --> 00:47:28.239
a treatment program, or she could
be sent to a state prison. The

550
00:47:28.280 --> 00:47:32.159
defense request did the court consider committing
Jenna to treatment with the Department of Juvenile

551
00:47:32.320 --> 00:47:38.119
Justice instead of sending her to prison. However, Philip was adamant about what

552
00:47:38.199 --> 00:47:43.000
he felt was appropriate, telling the
newspaper, I think they've had two and

553
00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:45.440
a half years to seek treatment.
If they wanted treatment, she needs to

554
00:47:45.480 --> 00:47:52.559
go to prison. That's what she
deserves. It wasn't until Jenna's final sentencing

555
00:47:52.599 --> 00:47:58.280
hearing two months later in March that
more details emerged of how concerned Philip and

556
00:47:58.360 --> 00:48:01.400
Ronda had been about the teen's own
for all behavior and the months leading up

557
00:48:01.400 --> 00:48:07.039
to the murder. Jenna was well
behaved at school, where she was well

558
00:48:07.159 --> 00:48:13.079
liked by her teachers, but at
home she was defiant and disobedient. Philip

559
00:48:13.079 --> 00:48:16.480
had wondered if they should send her
to some sort of residential program for troubled

560
00:48:16.480 --> 00:48:22.440
teens, but Ronda wanted Jenna to
stay in the home so they could keep

561
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:27.280
working on things together. Philip said
he had also reached out to the Kentucky

562
00:48:27.320 --> 00:48:31.920
State Police over his concerns that Kenneth
Nye was a sexual predator, but felt

563
00:48:31.920 --> 00:48:38.559
brushed off when they referred his complaint
to Indiana law enforcement. I explained to

564
00:48:38.599 --> 00:48:42.960
you that at the time of the
relationship, how Kenneth and I could have

565
00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:47.679
been prosecuted in both states, but
technically he did live in Indiana, or

566
00:48:47.719 --> 00:48:52.079
they could even say Colorado where he
was stationed in the army. But still,

567
00:48:52.599 --> 00:48:55.840
when you call the cops about a
grown man seeing your child, you

568
00:48:55.960 --> 00:49:02.800
expect them to do something about it. Defence mitigation specialists spoke about Jenna's childhood

569
00:49:04.079 --> 00:49:09.199
as the precursor to her stunted psychosocial
development. The court heard that after Philip

570
00:49:09.239 --> 00:49:14.760
and his ex wife split many years
before, Jenna was living in an unsafe

571
00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:21.039
and chaotic environment in her mother's care. Child Protective services were called a couple

572
00:49:21.039 --> 00:49:25.119
of times, mainly for the state
of her home and neglect, but Jenna

573
00:49:25.199 --> 00:49:30.199
claimed she was also abused. The
defense set her home life with her mother,

574
00:49:30.599 --> 00:49:37.800
Christy Woodpoe had affected her ability to
develop emotionally in a healthy way and

575
00:49:37.280 --> 00:49:43.719
left her vulnerable to a predator like
Kenneth Nye. When Jenna was just three

576
00:49:43.800 --> 00:49:47.679
years old, child protective services were
first called to the home over concerns of

577
00:49:47.719 --> 00:49:52.719
neglect. A neighbor had seen rats
around the home and believed that Jenna and

578
00:49:52.800 --> 00:49:59.639
her baby brother were being left alone
for long periods. Jenna's mother was reportedly

579
00:49:59.679 --> 00:50:05.599
hostile towards one social worker. Initially
refusing to let her inside. When the

580
00:50:05.639 --> 00:50:09.800
social worker did manage to observe Jenna's
living situation, the home was littered with

581
00:50:09.840 --> 00:50:15.119
garbage, invested with roaches and moldy
dishes stacked in the sink. The home

582
00:50:15.199 --> 00:50:22.440
was squalid, practically a biohazard.
Throughout the residence was vomit urine feces from

583
00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:29.760
animals and humans. The landlord of
this shithole was also Jenna's babysitter, and

584
00:50:29.840 --> 00:50:34.000
told social workers that she noticed the
young girl was often covered in so many

585
00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:37.679
flea bites that the scratching caused her
skin to bleed. She claimed to not

586
00:50:37.800 --> 00:50:43.360
know the condition of the property,
and yet she saw these little kids every

587
00:50:43.440 --> 00:50:47.800
day, and where was her mother? Christy Poe got a job at a

588
00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:52.360
local jail and soon fell in love
with an inmate. She paid his bond

589
00:50:52.480 --> 00:50:57.719
and moved him into the home with
her children. The ex con stole from

590
00:50:57.760 --> 00:51:02.679
her and brought other women there.
According to Jenna's older half sister, who

591
00:51:02.760 --> 00:51:07.039
left the home when Jenna was about
middle school age, dynamics in the abuse

592
00:51:07.119 --> 00:51:14.320
of home environment continued to deteriorate.
Jenna told her defense team that she had

593
00:51:14.360 --> 00:51:19.280
been physically and sexually abused while in
her mother's care, and that there was

594
00:51:19.360 --> 00:51:23.480
drug and alcohol abuse in the home. Then, as a preteen desperate for

595
00:51:23.559 --> 00:51:30.400
attention and love, she met Kenny. Suddenly there was someone she felt would

596
00:51:30.400 --> 00:51:34.519
protect and take care of her,
the care she wasn't getting from her mother,

597
00:51:35.079 --> 00:51:40.280
who the defense alleged encouraged her daughter's
in appropriate relationship with Kenneth Nye.

598
00:51:40.559 --> 00:51:45.920
The defense told the court he was
giving her everything she wanted. She just

599
00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.920
looked up to him for everything.
The worst thing that could have happened was

600
00:51:49.960 --> 00:51:55.719
to lose that love. Suzanne Hooper, the mitigation specialist, said this didn't

601
00:51:55.760 --> 00:52:00.360
happen in a vacuum. These things
never do. There's a big story here

602
00:52:00.480 --> 00:52:06.400
for while we're in this room today. She researched Jenna's home life for two

603
00:52:06.480 --> 00:52:09.559
years before the trial and had plenty
of things to say about Christy Poe,

604
00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:15.679
Jenna's mother, who refused to speak
to her. Jenna's half sister, who

605
00:52:15.800 --> 00:52:21.159
was older, did testify to abuse, but it wasn't as easy to claim

606
00:52:21.199 --> 00:52:25.480
neglect at the Oakley household, though
Hooper did try. She had never even

607
00:52:25.519 --> 00:52:30.760
seen inside the house, and from
all accounts, Jenna was well taken care

608
00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:36.360
of by the Oakleys. Philip and
Ronda did everything they could to stop the

609
00:52:36.400 --> 00:52:40.119
relationship with Kenny. Jenna was making
good grades, she was a cheerleader.

610
00:52:42.039 --> 00:52:45.800
Suzanne Hooper was not wrong about things
not happening in a vacuum. I have

611
00:52:45.960 --> 00:52:51.079
no doubt Jenna had a terrible early
home life, and she and her brother

612
00:52:51.159 --> 00:52:54.599
moved in with her dad for good
reason. I mentioned earlier in the episode

613
00:52:54.960 --> 00:53:00.719
that Philip felt more people were responsible. I can only assume he meant Jenna's

614
00:53:00.760 --> 00:53:06.079
mother and other adults who had abused
his daughter. He insisted that he got

615
00:53:06.079 --> 00:53:09.199
his daughter treatment. She saw a
therapist, and she was thriving in his

616
00:53:09.360 --> 00:53:15.880
care despite the pain of her breakup
with Kenny. On March twenty seventh,

617
00:53:15.199 --> 00:53:20.719
Philip told the court and his victim
impact statement that he felt Kenneth had preyed

618
00:53:20.760 --> 00:53:23.599
on his daughter, adding, when
Jenna came to live with myself and Ronda,

619
00:53:24.039 --> 00:53:28.400
it was to give her a better
life. She loved Jenna. She

620
00:53:28.480 --> 00:53:31.360
did everything in her power to care
for Jenna. She provided for Jenna.

621
00:53:32.039 --> 00:53:37.840
I was going to do whatever I
needed to do to protect her. But

622
00:53:37.000 --> 00:53:42.400
despite the abuse she may have suffered
at her mother's home, Philip wasn't letting

623
00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:45.000
her off the hook. He said, I want to know why you did

624
00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:50.559
what you did, because myself nor
Ronda ever abused you. There was no

625
00:53:50.639 --> 00:53:53.320
better person on the face of this
earth than Ronda. You didn't have a

626
00:53:53.400 --> 00:53:58.480
right to do what you did.
Kenny didn't know our address, so you

627
00:53:58.559 --> 00:54:01.599
had to tell him to let him
in the house. You're saying you wish

628
00:54:01.599 --> 00:54:06.519
you could have stopped it. Jenna, You're not a victim, You're a

629
00:54:06.599 --> 00:54:17.800
victimizer. I'm going to pause now
for a final commercial break. In the

630
00:54:17.960 --> 00:54:23.039
end, Philip and the prosecution got
their wish. Judge Peckler sentenced Jenna to

631
00:54:23.119 --> 00:54:28.599
a maximum of fifteen years in prison
on both counts, with credit for time

632
00:54:28.679 --> 00:54:34.559
served, saying I would note that
this was particularly cruel, It was senseless,

633
00:54:34.719 --> 00:54:38.400
It was even callous in that regard. It may not surprise you that

634
00:54:38.480 --> 00:54:44.960
Jenna's age and the circumstances of her
early childhood were and continue to be a

635
00:54:45.039 --> 00:54:51.920
huge factor for those who feel she
received a disproportionately harsh sentence. There is

636
00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:55.960
a change dot org petition that was
created in June twenty twenty two called Jenna

637
00:54:57.119 --> 00:55:00.000
was Not an Adult that details many
of the things is brought out in court

638
00:55:00.400 --> 00:55:05.719
calling for a retrial. If Trot
as a juvenile, she would already have

639
00:55:05.760 --> 00:55:09.320
been released. To date, it
has eight hundred and seventy three signatures of

640
00:55:09.360 --> 00:55:15.599
the thousand it was going for,
and many people just signed to publicly write

641
00:55:15.800 --> 00:55:21.400
that Jenna got what she deserved,
and Jenna's family, including her own father,

642
00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:25.679
is adamant that she is not serving
enough time. Outside court, Philip

643
00:55:25.719 --> 00:55:30.360
told the Lexington Herald Leader. You
always think of your daughter as they're going

644
00:55:30.400 --> 00:55:35.079
to prom, or you're going to
walk them down the aisle someday. How

645
00:55:35.079 --> 00:55:38.280
did mine turn out like this?
I consider her and Kenny both monsters.

646
00:55:38.800 --> 00:55:43.519
I just don't see how someone can
do that to someone that's caring for them,

647
00:55:43.880 --> 00:55:49.000
that's doing everything to love them.
In washing his hands of his only

648
00:55:49.079 --> 00:55:54.039
daughter, Philip told WDRB News what
people say about Jenna, I don't care.

649
00:55:54.519 --> 00:55:59.440
Say phil however you want about her. I don't care. You grow

650
00:55:59.559 --> 00:56:02.440
up and you have children, and
you say you've got unconditional love for your

651
00:56:02.519 --> 00:56:07.280
children. That's not true. I
found some way to not have unconditional love

652
00:56:07.320 --> 00:56:13.880
for my child. Today, twenty
three year old Jenna is detained at the

653
00:56:13.920 --> 00:56:20.159
Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women in pee
Weee Valley. According to prison records,

654
00:56:20.320 --> 00:56:25.039
with good behavior, her minimum expiration
of sentence date is April twenty twenty seven,

655
00:56:25.360 --> 00:56:30.159
when she will be twenty six years
old. She only needs to serve

656
00:56:30.199 --> 00:56:34.159
eighty five percent of her sentence,
which with time served is a bit over

657
00:56:34.239 --> 00:56:38.880
eleven years. Her time in the
juvenile facility for over two years does count,

658
00:56:39.079 --> 00:56:43.920
so she could get out early,
and since she does show remorse with

659
00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:47.440
good behavior, there is a chance. On the other hand, there isn't

660
00:56:47.480 --> 00:56:52.559
a lot of goodwill for Jenna,
despite her supporters. Fifteen years just isn't

661
00:56:52.559 --> 00:56:57.840
a long time for what she did. Many, if not most, want

662
00:56:57.920 --> 00:57:00.679
her to serve all of it.
If she's serves the maximum, she will

663
00:57:00.719 --> 00:57:05.719
be released in August twenty thirty one, when she is thirty years old,

664
00:57:06.400 --> 00:57:12.440
which I think is likely. It
was a vicious, premeditated murder. Jenna's

665
00:57:12.519 --> 00:57:17.679
journal proved that without her confession,
and she also planned to kill her father

666
00:57:17.880 --> 00:57:23.239
and her thirteen year old brother.
That's hard to forget. Jenna killed someone

667
00:57:23.239 --> 00:57:28.639
who was trying to help her,
who loved her. Ronda tried so hard

668
00:57:28.679 --> 00:57:31.480
to bond with her and give her
a normal life. She was involved in

669
00:57:31.519 --> 00:57:37.360
Jenna's life, taking her to cheerleading
practice and showing up for school events.

670
00:57:37.800 --> 00:57:40.840
She took the teen shopping, which
Jenna loved, and yes, she gave

671
00:57:40.920 --> 00:57:46.159
Jenna boundaries, but she also stepped
in and insisted they keep Jenna at home

672
00:57:46.400 --> 00:57:50.480
when Philip was ready to give up
and put her in a boarding school.

673
00:57:52.119 --> 00:57:54.880
Philip still struggles to come to terms
with the actions of his teenage daughter,

674
00:57:55.280 --> 00:58:00.760
whom he and Ronda always loved and
supported. How Jenna could have had any

675
00:58:00.800 --> 00:58:06.039
part in something so vicious, much
less written in such detail about planning the

676
00:58:06.119 --> 00:58:13.880
slaughter of her entire family is unimaginable. I've covered teen killers before who killed

677
00:58:13.920 --> 00:58:19.079
family members. In the Holly Harvey
and Sandy Ketchum story, there was plenty

678
00:58:19.119 --> 00:58:23.360
of abuse and neglect. It did
not mitigate their gruesome crime murdering. Holly's

679
00:58:23.360 --> 00:58:29.679
grandparents, who were her guardians.
Both got life sentences, but Holly's were

680
00:58:29.719 --> 00:58:36.239
consecutive and Sandy's concurrent. Sandy was
denied parole last year. Holly is ineligible

681
00:58:36.320 --> 00:58:42.280
until next year. Twenty twenty five. Nathan Callahan brutally murdered his mother and

682
00:58:42.360 --> 00:58:46.199
sister and planned to kill his father, and there was no history of abuse.

683
00:58:46.880 --> 00:58:51.480
He was just mad that he was
grounded. He came from a loving

684
00:58:51.559 --> 00:58:55.239
home and still planned his vicious attack
for two weeks. He's serving a life

685
00:58:55.360 --> 00:59:00.239
sentence. His last parole hearing was
in twenty twenty three, his next is

686
00:59:00.280 --> 00:59:07.440
in twenty twenty nine. The Duke
murders is an even more chilling case of

687
00:59:07.480 --> 00:59:10.800
a sixteen year old who didn't just
kill his dad and stepmom, but also

688
00:59:10.880 --> 00:59:15.840
two little sisters with the help of
three friends. He is serving life in

689
00:59:15.880 --> 00:59:22.079
prison without parole, while his nineteen
year old buddy was executed by the State

690
00:59:22.079 --> 00:59:27.000
of Alabama for these murders when he
was forty two years old. Mark Duke's

691
00:59:27.000 --> 00:59:34.599
death sentence was overturned because of his
age, so comparatively speaking, Jenna Oakley

692
00:59:34.639 --> 00:59:38.199
got a really light sentence. She
viciously killed Rhonda only eight years ago,

693
00:59:38.719 --> 00:59:43.440
and she's only got a couple of
years to go. All but one of

694
00:59:43.440 --> 00:59:47.679
the teen killers I've covered before are
still in prison serving life sentences, and

695
00:59:47.719 --> 00:59:54.159
that one I'm talking about was granted
clemency, which is really unusual. In

696
00:59:54.239 --> 00:59:59.599
all of these cases, I have
brought up the cognitive and moral capacities of

697
00:59:59.639 --> 01:00:05.400
teenage. I've talked about how doctors
believe the frontal lobe is not fully developed

698
01:00:05.519 --> 01:00:10.280
until about age twenty five. That's
where we make rational decisions. The latest

699
01:00:10.280 --> 01:00:15.599
studies show brain development may continue into
the third decade of life, but at

700
01:00:15.679 --> 01:00:21.719
least until the late twenties. I
have also talked about the bizarre way we

701
01:00:21.800 --> 01:00:24.960
will send an eighteen year old off
to fight in war but won't serve him

702
01:00:24.960 --> 01:00:30.039
alcohol. Our laws and customs treat
them like adults when it suits us,

703
01:00:30.559 --> 01:00:36.280
and like children the rest of the
time. I talked about how we as

704
01:00:36.320 --> 01:00:40.599
a society still see them as kids
until they do the unthinkable, and then

705
01:00:40.719 --> 01:00:47.000
overnight they are instantly adults. When
I reread those older scripts, I noticed

706
01:00:47.159 --> 01:00:52.480
that I give much more gruesome detail
than I typically do. I had forgotten

707
01:00:52.480 --> 01:00:55.760
about that, but I do remember
making that decision because I felt like you

708
01:00:55.920 --> 01:01:01.039
needed to hear those details to really
see these killers clearly, to hear what

709
01:01:01.159 --> 01:01:07.280
juries and judges did to come to
these decisions. But to be honest,

710
01:01:07.760 --> 01:01:10.320
the more of these cases I cover, the more I see how hard it

711
01:01:10.360 --> 01:01:15.440
is to understand them. I will
say that Philip Oakley's complete rejection of his

712
01:01:15.559 --> 01:01:22.599
daughter is somewhat unusual. In Nathan's
case, his father stuck by him.

713
01:01:22.000 --> 01:01:25.320
And I recently covered a case where
a twenty three year old man killed his

714
01:01:25.440 --> 01:01:30.400
mom and brother and almost killed his
dad. I'm only mentioning this case because

715
01:01:30.400 --> 01:01:36.320
he was under twenty five with the
frontal lobe argument. But this twenty three

716
01:01:36.400 --> 01:01:39.440
year old did not have the history
of abuse, and I feel he manipulated

717
01:01:39.440 --> 01:01:45.280
his father with his faith to forgive
him, to have him on his side

718
01:01:45.400 --> 01:01:49.639
as he thought to get his death
sentence commuted, and it worked. Bart

719
01:01:49.679 --> 01:01:53.199
Whittaker is the only man Texas Governor
Greg Abbott has ever given a commutation.

720
01:01:54.360 --> 01:02:00.239
Of course, that is just my
opinion, and I know it's controversial for

721
01:02:00.280 --> 01:02:04.360
some of you. For that matter, all of these cases are controversial,

722
01:02:04.880 --> 01:02:09.159
but I'm not the only one who
believes Whittaker is a manipulative sociopath. Likewise,

723
01:02:09.719 --> 01:02:15.159
in this case, Philip and others
have called Jenna manipulative before Rhonda's murder

724
01:02:15.440 --> 01:02:22.000
and also said that she was calculating
and manipulative when she was navigating our court

725
01:02:22.079 --> 01:02:28.239
system without a parent. Her father
points out that she never apologized until she

726
01:02:28.320 --> 01:02:31.440
was before the judge to be sentenced, and he did ask her, he

727
01:02:31.519 --> 01:02:36.639
did try to talk to her and
understand why she did it. She was

728
01:02:36.719 --> 01:02:42.320
cold to him and refused to apologize. That's when he truly walked away.

729
01:02:43.800 --> 01:02:47.280
But not having a parent stand by
her is a distinction here. She was

730
01:02:47.320 --> 01:02:52.639
fifteen and she was utterly alone.
Her court mitigation expert said, mothers of

731
01:02:52.719 --> 01:02:59.199
grown men who have brutally murdered people
call and text her asking about their kid,

732
01:03:00.239 --> 01:03:05.159
not Jenna Oakley's. Jenna's mother is
nowhere to be found in this case,

733
01:03:05.599 --> 01:03:08.239
not in court, and she's never
been interviewed in print or on crime

734
01:03:08.280 --> 01:03:14.480
shows like Philip has. She may
as well have been dead. But then

735
01:03:14.719 --> 01:03:17.039
if she had come to court to
testify for Jenna, she would have had

736
01:03:17.079 --> 01:03:22.639
to face up to the allegations of
abuse that her other daughter and social workers

737
01:03:22.719 --> 01:03:28.800
testified about. Maybe she just couldn't
do that. Maybe she just never gave

738
01:03:28.840 --> 01:03:34.239
a damn about Jenna, And perhaps
Philip didn't know his daughter as well as

739
01:03:34.239 --> 01:03:37.440
he thought he did. Every other
weekend isn't the same as twenty four to

740
01:03:37.519 --> 01:03:42.159
seven when it comes to raising a
child, and he lived in a different

741
01:03:42.199 --> 01:03:45.840
state than his kids. He couldn't
always be there for birthday parties, ballgames,

742
01:03:45.960 --> 01:03:52.440
or school plays. The way other
parents with partial custody can. Please

743
01:03:52.880 --> 01:03:58.679
know that I am not blaming or
judging him for that. Custody arrangements are

744
01:03:58.719 --> 01:04:03.119
complicated even and the best of circumstances, and he happily took custody of both

745
01:04:03.159 --> 01:04:10.239
his kids when given the chance.
But I can't help but wonder that if

746
01:04:10.320 --> 01:04:15.119
Jenna's upbringing was as bad as other
witnesses said it was, how did Philip

747
01:04:15.159 --> 01:04:19.559
not see it? Neighbors saw flea
bites and neglect. He said she was

748
01:04:19.599 --> 01:04:25.480
a normal, happy little girl,
a loving, sweet daughter until she was

749
01:04:25.519 --> 01:04:30.800
involved with Kenny, but he still
never dreamed she would viciously kill her stepmom,

750
01:04:30.440 --> 01:04:36.000
the only real mother she ever seemingly
had. Philip loved his daughter,

751
01:04:36.599 --> 01:04:42.920
He then openly publicly said he hated
her. He was very vocal about that.

752
01:04:43.880 --> 01:04:47.000
He has since softened some and doesn't
use the word hate, but he

753
01:04:47.039 --> 01:04:55.199
still won't consider forgiveness. I believe
the people who testified about Jenna's abuse of

754
01:04:55.280 --> 01:05:01.119
childhood, and I also believe that
the Oakleys did did not abuse, neglect,

755
01:05:01.400 --> 01:05:08.840
or otherwise mistreat her. But that
doesn't mean that her emotional growth was

756
01:05:08.880 --> 01:05:14.000
not already stunted by her mother and
early home life. She was also a

757
01:05:14.079 --> 01:05:19.880
decade away from full frontal lobe development. And I wasn't being ironic about Kenneth

758
01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:25.280
Nye when I brought up the Romeo
and Juliet laws. They really were a

759
01:05:25.320 --> 01:05:29.920
factor in this case, but I
dug much further into them before I even

760
01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:33.800
realized that Kenneth and I died of
suicide. I had skimmed the case that

761
01:05:33.920 --> 01:05:39.519
Jemma sent me and then dug in, thinking I would be discussing his sentencing

762
01:05:39.679 --> 01:05:45.559
at the end. I didn't realize
I would just be talking about Jenna Oakley

763
01:05:45.880 --> 01:05:49.840
walking out of prison at the age
of thirty, maybe even younger, still

764
01:05:49.880 --> 01:05:55.159
able to have a full adult life, get married, have a family,

765
01:05:55.599 --> 01:06:02.000
and enjoy the grandchildren that Ronda lost. While I do believe that Jenna's confession

766
01:06:02.199 --> 01:06:08.320
was true, that she was really
the killer, I also believe she would

767
01:06:08.320 --> 01:06:12.559
have done anything to save Kenny,
and he certainly tried to pay the ultimate

768
01:06:12.639 --> 01:06:17.159
price for her freedom. I just
don't believe Jenna would have given a full

769
01:06:17.199 --> 01:06:25.119
confession if she had known about his
suicide. But this isn't Shakespeare. The

770
01:06:25.199 --> 01:06:30.719
story isn't a romantic tragedy. It's
just a tragedy. A senseless, stupid

771
01:06:30.760 --> 01:06:41.039
tragedy that ruined as many lives as
it took. Southern Fried True Crime is

772
01:06:41.079 --> 01:06:45.800
hosted and produced by me Erica Kelly. Today's episode was researched and written by

773
01:06:45.840 --> 01:06:49.239
me and Jimmy Harris. As usual, any editorial comments and opinions are my

774
01:06:49.320 --> 01:06:54.000
own. Southern Fred's original music is
by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio and the

775
01:06:54.000 --> 01:06:58.599
original graphic artist by Coy Horner.
Today's episode was edited and mixed by Brandon

776
01:06:58.639 --> 01:07:02.000
schck Sneyder of Southern Gothic and Erica
Kelly. If you have any case suggestions,

777
01:07:02.039 --> 01:07:05.719
please go to my website, Southernfred
Truecrime dot com and click on the

778
01:07:05.719 --> 01:07:13.079
listener suggestion tab or email sftcresearch at
gmail dot com. This is the best

779
01:07:13.079 --> 01:07:15.320
way for me to get these little
known cases. Y'all always send me.

780
01:07:15.800 --> 01:07:20.199
Please remember that I do not accept
suggestions on social media private messages, but

781
01:07:20.280 --> 01:07:25.960
please come join our Facebook group,
Southern Fred Truecrime Fans Discussion Group, where

782
01:07:25.960 --> 01:07:29.760
we swap recipes, worship Dolly Parton, and share memes. We do,

783
01:07:29.840 --> 01:07:32.000
of course discuss true crime, not
just Southern fraud, but all kinds,

784
01:07:32.440 --> 01:07:36.039
but it is still very much a
Southern lifestyle group. Our group is a

785
01:07:36.039 --> 01:07:39.239
safe and thun corner of Facebook,
and by god, we mean it when

786
01:07:39.239 --> 01:07:41.920
we say no shuit as is allowed. It's not just a motto, it's

787
01:07:41.920 --> 01:07:44.840
how we run the group. If
you enjoyed today's show, don't forget to

788
01:07:44.880 --> 01:07:47.480
subscribe and please tell a friend or
rate and review. I'm on all large

789
01:07:47.480 --> 01:07:54.079
platforms like iTunes, Iheartspotify, Amazon, Audible and YouTube. Until next time,

790
01:07:54.679 --> 01:07:57.239
thanks so much for listening. Y'all. Take care