220: The Murder of Rhonda Oakley

On September 1, 2016, 52-year-old Rhonda Oakley was due home from a business trip. Only gone one night, she and her husband of less than three years had missed each other. The empty nester and single dad had been inseparable since they met. Rhonda had recently become a full time stepmom to Phillip’s teenaged kids, who had moved from Indiana to the Oakley’s home on the outskirts of Danville, Kentucky. That afternoon, her stepson came home and found Rhonda in a pool of blood, viciously murdered. His father was devastated and his sister was missing. A national manhunt ensued as investigators realized tried to unravel what happened in this peaceful little town where folks had always felt safe. 

Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley 
Researched and written by Erica Kelley & Gemma Harris
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner 
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio 
Edited & Mixed by Brandon Schexnayder & Erica Kelley 

Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/rhonda-oakley

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Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Southern Fried true crime covers cases thatare not suitable for young listeners, and
there may also be some explicit languageused. Listener discretion is advised. September
one, twenty sixteen, was awarm and partly cloudy afternoon in central Kentucky.

(00:28):
Fifty two year old Ronda Oakley pulledin her driveway in Junction City at
around three pm. She was homeearly after attending a conference in Louisville the
day before. She loved her joband had fun at the conference, but
she and her husband, Philip hadmissed each other, even though it was
just one night apart. Though theyhad been married a couple of years,

(00:52):
they were practically still in their honeymoonphase, and Ronda had recently become a
full time stepmother. She hadn't expectedto be parenting again at her age,
but she happily took on the roleand loved her husband's kids like they were
her own. Ronda had adult childrenof her own, who had all long
since flown the nest. Philip Oakeleyhad two children from his previous marriage,

(01:17):
a daughter fifteen year old Jenna andson thirteen year old David. They had
been living in Arlington, Indiana,with their mother, Christie, but a
few months earlier, Jenna had askedif she could move in with her dad.
Philip had told his children his doorwas always open, so he was
glad to have Jenna come live withhim, and her brother David decided to

(01:40):
come with her. The children hadadjusted to their new school, and for
Philip it was a chance to developa deeper relationship with his kids. He
and Ronda were intent on providing awarm and supportive environment where they hoped the
kids would thrive. But just fivemonths after Jenna and David moved on that
warm late summer afternoon, Ronda Oakleywas found viciously murdered. Welcome to episode

(02:10):
two twenty, The Murder of RondaOakley. Ronda Denise Rains was born on
March fifth, nineteen sixty four,to parents Howard and Mabel. She and
her older sister, Patty grew upin Liberty, a town in Casey County,

(02:30):
Kentucky. Sadly, in nineteen seventyone, when Ronda was just seven
years old, her father, Howard, passed away. In December nineteen eighty
one, seventeen year old Ronda marrieda twenty two year old young man named
Bobby Joe and graduated from Casey CountyHigh School in May the following year.

(02:50):
The couple had a son and daughter, Joey and Jennifer. This marriage didn't
last long, and young Ronda wenton to marry again to a man named
Donald, and she had three morechildren, Courtney, Caitlin, and Daniel.
Unfortunately, this marriage didn't last either. Now a single mom to five
children, Ronda worked hard to giveher kids a good life. She was

(03:15):
a customer service manager at R.R. Donnelly in Danville, Kentucky,
where she had worked happily for thirtyyears. She was respected and very well
liked by her co workers. Bronda'sfamily and friends say she was outgoing,
bubbly, and known for being generousand loving, the kind of friendly lady

(03:35):
who never met a stranger, andfor a while she wasn't interested in another
husband. She just wanted to takecare of her kids. Frankly, she
was probably too busy working and raisingkids to focus on her love life.
But by two thousand and eight,with all her kids moved out, the
forty four year old was enjoying takingtime for herself and exploring the possibility of

(03:59):
findal love again. One day,sitting at the bar in Danville's Old Bridge
Golf Club, Ronda met thirty sevenyear old Philip Oakley. Philip was a
quieter personality than Ronda, much morereserved, but opposites often attract, and
pretty much from the day they met, Ronda and Philip were inseparable, and

(04:21):
they had more in common than justgolf. Philip, who worked as a
production supervisor, was also divorced anda single parent, though it was part
time and his kids were still littleelementary school ages. In two thousand and
eight, Jenna would have been aboutseven and David five. The Oakley kids

(04:43):
lived in Arlington, Indiana with theirmom, Christy Woodpoe, but Philip maintains
he had a close relationship with them. He saw his children every other weekend.
It was a three hour drive sixtotal for just a two day visit,
but he said he was close tohis children and loved having them home
with him. That drive was definitelyworth it for everyone, and his new

(05:05):
wife, Ronda soon loved spending timewith his kids as a family. On
December twenty seventh, twenty thirteen,Philip and Ronda tied the knot in a
low key ceremony. They looked forwardto blending their families and spending the rest
of their lives together. For awhile, it was mostly just them too.

(05:26):
They worked and spent a lot ofthat wonderful newlywent time together. Ronda
was totally devoted to the couple's threedocks and dogs, Cinderella, Jonas,
and Oliver, and by the timethey were married, Ronda had four grand
babies, soon to be five.Like most grandparents, Ronda adored those babies

(05:47):
and had close relationships with all herkids. She and Philip lived in a
small town called Junction City on theoutskirts of Danville. The population has hovered
under twenty three hundred people for thelast couple of decades. Junction City and
Greater Danville are nestled in the beautifulrolling hills of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky,

(06:12):
where agriculture is still the main industry, especially horse breeding. You get
all four seasons in this gorgeous area. They still get the hot and humid
southern summers, but they have actualautumns and springs, unlike states further south.
Danville is known as the birthplace ofbluegrass, and it's also a college

(06:32):
town home to the Liberal Arts SchoolCenter College. I also live in a
small community outside of a college town. We not only have our own community
Facebook group, my neighborhood even hasits own group. We look out for
each other and feel very safe outhere. Junction City is a lot like
that. Neighbors know each other's businessbut also look out for each other,

(06:57):
and it's a really safe place tolive. On a scale of one to
one hundred, Junction City ranks atseven point two, and its crime rate
not to be a smarty pants,but there's not much crime because there's not
much to do. Oh, there'splenty of outdoor activities and creeks and woods,
But when you go to websites evenlocal message boards, most things listed

(07:20):
are for nearby towns and cities,which is just fine because if you want
to buy a house, they're actuallystill affordable Injunction City. It's definitely still
a seller's market, but you cancertainly get more out of a house there
for your dollars. And I didsee a couple of million dollar homes,
but they're not really mansions. Theirprice is based on hundreds of acreage on

(07:43):
those properties. Lots of folks likeliving in small towns for these very reasons
they can commute to larger cities whilehaving a nice house and or lots of
land to come home to. Notthat Danville would really be much of a
commute it takes a little over twoten minutes to get there, date nights
in Danville would have been easy forPhilip and Ronda. A little over two

(08:07):
years into their marriage, in Apriltwenty sixteen, was when fifteen year old
Jenna decided she wanted to live withher dad after she had been fighting with
her mom. As promised, Philip'sstore was always open to his daughter.
Philip and Ronda welcomed the teen intotheir home without question, with thirteen year
old David soon joining his sister.Philip and Ronda both wanted to provide as

(08:31):
safe and stable a new home fortheir children as possible. While many kids
struggled to adjust to a new home, environment and social setting, the Oakly
children were really doing well. Jennawas a good student and cheerleader at Boyle
County High School. Philip was overwhelmedwith the kindness, support, and generosity

(08:54):
Ronda showed towards her two step children, later telling WBRD News if there was
a book written about the perfect wifethe perfect mother, the perfect nana that
would be my wife. I knowshe made me a better person. She
changed my life. I'm going topause now for a short commercial break.

(09:22):
That September first, David rode thebus home from school and was dropped off
at four pm. When he gotthere, no one else was home.
Jenna wasn't home from school yet,and his dad was still at work.
His stepmom, Ronda, should beon her way home from out of town.
She had been at that conference inLouisville. Before starting his homework,

(09:43):
David loaded the dishwasher, which wasone of his chores. He could hear
the dogs barking and howling from downin the basement. No one else was
home, so it was odd thatthey were making such a racket. When
David went downstairs to see what thethus was about, he could see the
dogs were scratching at the spare bedroomdoor. There were two bedrooms, Jenna's

(10:07):
in this room that the dogs werebarking at. Opening the door and turning
on the light, David was confrontedwith a gruesome sight. Ronda's body lay
face up, motionless on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her head.
A panic and I'm sure hysterical.David ran next door, where a

(10:28):
neighbor called nine one one. Whenofficers arrived, they found Ronda had been
brutally attacked, stabbed multiple times onher neck. There was a trash bag
over her face and duct tape onher mouth. The cops opened Jenna's door
and saw a trash can with vomitin it. There was no sign of

(10:48):
a murder weapon, but upstairs theknife block in the kitchen was missing a
knife. Philip soon pulled into thedriveway coming home from work. David had
our what he called his cell phone, so he was in a panic.
Daddy Ronda's gone was all the kidcould get out. Seeing first responders vehicles

(11:09):
and his distraught son outside the house, his stomach dropped. When Kentucky State
Police broke the news that Ronda hadbeen murdered, the shock and pain had
filled up like a ton of bricks. His wife was the most generous,
giving person he had ever met.Everyone loved her. Why would someone want
to kill her and in such avicious way. That kind of attack didn't

(11:33):
look like a run of the millrobbery. There were no signs of forced
entry, so it didn't seem likea break in or home invasion, but
still robbery could be a motive.Ronda's twenty fourteen white Honda Civic was missing
from the driveway, so a BOLOwas issued for the vehicle. So far,
the car looked like the only thingmissing except for fifteen year old Jenna

(12:00):
had been at work all day,so he wasn't a suspect. He was
with law enforcement doing everything he couldto help. He told police that he
had gotten a message from Boyle CountyHigh School that Jenna was absent. He
had thought she was homesick. Nowhe and the police were worried that Jenna
had witnessed the murder and had beenabducted. As the hours passed and Jenna

(12:24):
didn't show up or call, Philiplater said he just knew in his gut
almost right away that he knew whodid this. He told police about Jenna's
ex boyfriend, twenty year old KennethRyan Nye, who was from Arlington,
Indiana. The couple had been datingfor several years, back from when Jenna

(12:46):
was living there with her mom.They rode the same school bus, though
they would have been several grades apartat the time they met. Jenna would
have been twelve years old at most, and Kenneth seventeen okay, sidebar,
almost a legal adult. Kenneth committeda crime by grooming this supposedly romantic relationship

(13:07):
with a child. I say supposedlybecause at that age you're just not old
enough to understand and participate in actualromantic love. I mean, seriously,
some girls at twelve years old havenot even had their first period. Sexual
contact with children that age is andshould be a crime. However, there

(13:30):
are Romeo and Juliet laws or practicesin many states. Authorities take into consideration
that there's a difference between an almostgrown man and a preteen and say a
relationship between a fifteen and seventeen yearold named after Shakespeare's Young Lovers. Romeo
and Juliet exceptions protect young adults fromprosecution when they are in a consensual relationship

(13:54):
with someone close in age. Sothese laws basically take the age to deface
friends and count the years. Fourto five years is typically the cutoff for
authorities to step in, but alongwith the five year age gap, children
under twelve years of age cannot consentto a sexual relationship. In twenty sixteen,

(14:16):
in Kentucky, the age of consentwas sixteen years old, and there
were no Romeo and Juliet laws.In effect, that means that any individual
who engaged in sexual conduct with aminor under sixteen could face prosecution for statutory
rape. For the record, inIndiana, the cutoff is four years.

(14:37):
Indiana's Romeo and Juliet law allows fourteenand fifteen year olds to consent to sexual
activity with their peers under certain conditions. So Jenna's mother definitely could have pressed
charges. We will get into thatmore later. At this point it doesn't
matter for this case, but beforeI get corrected, as of February twenty

(14:58):
twenty four, Kentucky does have Romeoand Juliet laws right now, when a
child is fourteen or fifteen and thepartner is younger than twenty one, the
Romeo and Juliet exception would apply,and Jenna and Kenneth would have been in
the right age range. As muchas we might not like it, I
just wanted to give you an overviewof what Philip and Ronda could have done,

(15:22):
as well as what Jenna's mother,Christie, could have done when the
relationship first began legally. But thereis also this there are Romeo and Juliet
laws, and then there is theRomeo and Juliet effect. Try to split
up a young couple and you justpush them closer together. Tearing them apart

(15:43):
makes them become more infatuated with eachother. Having said that what Kenneth and
I was doing was criminal, andas a parent, I would have reacted
exactly how Philip and Ronda do,but you do run the risk of Juliette
digging her heel. When Philip andRonda learned about the inappropriate relationship after Jenna

(16:06):
moved to Kentucky, they were immediatelyconcerned. They banned Jenna from having contact
with Kenneth and confiscated her cell phone. Philip called Kenny and threatened to report
him to the police, which seemedto do the trick. Both Kenny and
Jenna seemed to take Philip and Ronda'sconcerns seriously and agreed to part ways.

(16:27):
Philip said he called Kenny directly toldhim to leave his daughter alone, and
threatened him with statutory rape charges.He said Kenny sounded genuine when he agreed
to no longer see Jenna. Manyparents might have pressed charges, hell I
might have, but it really canmake things much worse. You don't want

(16:48):
to alienate your kid even more bypressing charges. You will seem much more
reasonable and forgiving if you give thema chance to do the right thing and
end the relationship willingly. But there'sno doubt it is a complex problem to
have with a young teen, andparents have to make the call they believe
is right. Okay, sidebar over. After Philip explained the situation with his

(17:14):
daughter to the police, the priorityfor detectives was finding Jenna and tracking down
Kenneth Nye, if only to eliminatehim as a suspect. After graduating from
high school, Kinney had enlisted inthe Army and was now stationed at Fort
Carson, Colorado. He might havean alibi. According to military records,

(17:34):
he was on active duty, Socould he have really driven almost twelve hundred
miles to kidnap Jenna after being outof contact with her for so long.
But a detective from the Kentucky StatePolice named Frank Thrownberry was an ex mariine,
so he gave the Fort Carson basea call and asked for a favor.

(17:56):
He found out that Kenny had changedhis mind about the army. In
fact, He had recently applied fora discharge on the basis of being a
conscientious objector, but then he foundout that if he failed his fitness test,
he could be discharged more quickly.When he intentionally failed all of his
physical fitness tests, he received adishonorable discharge on August thirty first, the

(18:22):
day before Ronda's murder. After hisdischarge, the Army paid for a flight
back to Indiana and even dropped himoff at the airport, but investigators learned
that at the last minute, histicket was changed. At three thirty pm
the same day as his discharge,Kenneth arrived at the Bluegrass Airport in Lexington,

(18:45):
Kentucky, about a fifty minute drivefrom Danville. Had Kenny decided to
surprise Jenna before heading back to Indiana. CCTV footage from the airport tracked Kenney
from his gate all the way outsideto the taxi and rideshare area. That's
one thing about more modern cases.It is sometimes amazing how far you can

(19:08):
be followed on CCTV as long asdetectives are willing to patiently search through footage,
and in this case they will.But the trail ended here when Kenny
took an Uber instead of a cab, but at least they were now sure
that Kenny and I was in Kentuckyand they had a recent photo of him.

(19:29):
From the footage, detectives decided torelease details to the media about fifteen
year old Jenna Oakley. This wasnot an Amber alert, but bulletins on
the news stations. Luckily, anuber driver remembered Kenneth Nye he had picked
him up from the airport. Thedriver told detectives he remembered a guy named

(19:52):
Kenny and where he dropped him off, on the street where the Oakleys lived.
He remembered Kenny saying he had justleft the Army that he was visiting
some old friends who lived just downthe street. The driver thought it was
strange that he didn't want him topull up to the door, but Kenny
said he wanted to surprise his friendsand to drop him off at the end

(20:15):
of the street. They lived onOld Houstonville Road. That was on the
afternoon of August thirty first, abouttwenty four hours before Rhonda's murder. I'm
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to work tracking Kinney's cell phone ifthey could locate him. Hopefully they would
find Jenna safe and unharmed. Soon, Kenny cel pinged in the city of

(24:07):
Glasgow, about one hundred miles southwestof Danville. A description of Jenna had
already been released as a potential abductee. Now another BOLO was issued, this
time for both Jenna and her exboyfriend. But Kenny's cell phone was moving
and was next picked up around ISsixty five near Nashville, Tennessee. Unfortunately,

(24:32):
investigators were not receiving the location informationin real time to determine what route
Kenneth might be taking. By thetime they got the notification of a new
location, there was a delay ofup to forty five minutes. According to
Kinney's cell phone carrier. This wasbecause the phone was being turned on and
off. By the next day,a tip came in reporting a sighting of

(24:56):
Jenna. A Walmart store manager inDanville called and meant to say that on
September first, the teen was spottedin their store. When law enforcement reviewed
the CCTV footage, Jenna could clearlybe seen and accompanying her was Kenneth and
I. He was wearing the sameT shirt he had on at the airport.

(25:18):
It's still broad daylight in the footageas they walk into the store,
probably not long after Ronda's murder.Jenna didn't appear injured or distressed, and
her body language was relaxed as shemade her way around the store with Guiney.
She certainly didn't look like she wasbeing held against her will or coerced

(25:40):
in any way. She touched Kenny'sarm in an intimate gesture as they walked
through the store, and Jenna waswalking ahead of Kenny like she knew where
she was going. They bought aphone charger, and Detective Thrownberry said,
the closer he watched, he noticedthey walked quickly and looked stressed. They

(26:02):
walked out of the store back intothe parking lot and got into a car
that looked very much like Ronda's missingHonda and drove off. In one way,
Jenna's demeanor from the footage was arelief for detectives and her family to
know that she was okay, butit raised a lot of other troubling questions.

(26:22):
What did Jenna know about Ronda's murderdespite her age, Could she possibly
have been involved in the murder?Why has she left home and not made
contact with her father? The answersquickly came together as officers searched Jenna's bedroom
and found her journal. In anentry day to July seventh, less than
two months earlier, she had written, I just got done talking to him

(26:47):
a few moments ago, and Ifeel so much better than what I did.
The latest we will be together isAugust twentieth. I really can't wait.
Every doubt that I've had these lastdays are gone. I love him
so much, and I know heloves me too. The he Jenna was
writing about was Kenneth Nye, anddespite what the couple had led Philip and

(27:08):
Ronda to believe, they had notbroken up at all, at least from
Jenna's perspective, they were very muchintent on being together, with Kenny taking
active steps for them to be reunited. Jenna wasn't worried about her father and
stepmother's objections to the relationship, writingin one of several chilling entries, they'll

(27:30):
be dead soon, thankfully. Goinga sinister step further, Jenna had also
set out a detailed bullet point listof how her plan would be executed,
which read as follows. Kill Philipfirst between four am and five am two
knives prepared with me. Kill David, last, kill Ronda. Second,

(27:53):
between six am and eight am.Kill David in his room. Ask Philip
to go downstairs real quick. Thenas we're going down, slice his neck
in the front, walk into Ronda'sbedroom and stab her. Stab David in
his bed. Another grizzly to dolist noted, let him know about my

(28:15):
plan, have a bag packed andprepared, have a knife prepared. Stabbed
them. The blind, hatred andcallousness of Jenna's journal was shocking. Philip
now knew there was no way hisdaughter was innocent or that she had been
abducted. It was obvious she hadhad a roll in Ronda's murder, but

(28:37):
how much did she actually kill Rondaor did Kenny. Throughout September second,
investigators could tell from the pings fromKenney's cell that he and Jenna were covering
a lot of ground as they headedwest. They continued through Tennessee, into
Missouri, Arkansas, and then Oklahoma. That was until September third, when

(29:00):
they apparently stopped. They peemed inthe same place for a while, but
they were now over one thousand milesaway in Tuocambe Carey, New Mexico.
Kentucky State Police contacted the touocamb CarreyPolice Department, who were soon on the
lookout for Ronda's Honda and the twofugitives. Kinney's cell phone pings placed the

(29:22):
vehicle, possibly at a truck stop, so local officers swung into action.
That night, in the parking lotof a motel six along Route sixty six
Boulevard, Corporal Cody Birch spotted avehicle matching the description and license plates approaching
in the darkness. He shined hisflashlight into the car and saw a young

(29:45):
couple inside who appeared to be asleep. The girl was leaning against the guy,
kind of cuddled up, but whenshe saw the light, she jumped
back straight into the driver's seat.Ignoring the officer's instruction to roll down her
window. She started the car.Corporal Birch drew his weapon, keeping it

(30:06):
safely pointed at the ground, andhe could see the young man talking to
the girl. After a few moments, the engines shut off. When back
up arrived, Jenna and Kenny werearrested. They willingly stepped out of the
vehicle with their hands in the air. Burch said Kenny seemed resigned to his
fate, but Jenna was distressed.She was crying, but she told officers

(30:30):
right away who her boyfriend was,Kenny Ny, she said. The cop
later said she was wailing over andover. Tell Kenny, I love him.
Make sure you tell him I lovehim. If you watch the footage,
this isn't the confident young woman whowalked through Walmart. It's a crying
teenager. They were separated and takeninto custody. Kenny was charged with contributing

(30:56):
to the delinquency of a miner,and both were charged with possessing stolen property.
Jenna was put into juvenile detention whileKenny was taken to the Quay County
Jail. Inside Ronda's car, NewMexico State Police found the mess of two
people who had been living in thecar while they were on the run.

(31:17):
Clothes, snacks, energy drinks,food wrappers, and empty bottles were strewn
all over the car. Just thirtysix hours later, on September fifth,
two days before Ronda's funeral, Philiplearned that Kenny had been released. According
to online prison records, Ronda's familywas anxiously watching the website waiting for Kenny

(31:38):
and Jenna to be extradited. Somenews reports even stated Kenneth had been bonded
out, but this wasn't true.When Kentucky State Police found out what was
behind the reports, it somewhat setPhilip's mind at ease. Kenny and I
had not been released. He hadbeen transported to a hospital in Texas was

(32:00):
in critical condition. Within hours ofbeing taken to jail, he had hanged
himself with his blanket. He wasstill alive, but was now on life
support. Inside his jail cell wasa note which read, I Kenneth Nye
admit to killing Ronda Oakley. Jennahad nothing to do with it. She

(32:21):
was not in the house when Ikilled Ronda. I take blame for everything.
I am truly sorry. The notewas a convenient way for Jenna to
be absolved of any responsibility in Ronda'smurder, but the idea that she was
totally blameless didn't job with the calculatedand premeditated journal entries planning the murder of

(32:42):
her whole family. Investigators held backon telling Jenna what had happened to her
boyfriend until she could be formally questionedby Kentucky State Police. If by some
chance, she admitted to being theorchestrator. This would prove Kinney was lying
in the note. On September twelfth, Jenna was extradited to Kentucky and held

(33:04):
without bond. Kentucky State detectives saidshe was informed of her rights and that
Philip agreed to the interview. Jennaconfessed to everything. She confirmed that her
relationship with kenny Ny never ended andthat she continued to communicate with him by
using a friend's cell phone while shewas at school. Jenna also admitted that

(33:29):
the night before Rondo was murdered,Kinny secretly spent the night with her in
her bedroom after taking that uber tothe house. Jenna even said she had
taken the knife some time in thenight before so they would be ready the
next morning. Philip headed off towork as usual and Dylan went to school

(33:49):
while Rondo was still out of town. She was due back that evening,
but Jenna stayed home from school withKenny hiding in her room. They hung
out and the downstairs area of thehouse, but were startled around three pm
when they heard Ronda arrive home earlierthan expected and was walking down to the
basement. She was carrying a laundrybasket and walked into Jenna's bedroom. Kenny

(34:16):
jumped in the closet to hide asRonda walked in. She was surprised to
see Jenna and immediately asked why shewasn't in school, which started an argument
that quickly escalated into a physical fight. Jenna told detectives she could see that
Ronda was about to get smart withher, and so she basically jumped her

(34:37):
stepmother. She was trying to strangleRonda, but told detectives Kenny had to
jump out of the closet and helpher because Ronda was bigger than her.
He put Ronda in a chokehold andshe seemed to pass out, and then
they dragged her into the other bedroom. Jenna said she covered Ronda's mouth with

(34:58):
duct tape and put the bag overher head, and then she explained how
she stabbed her in the neck.The knife didn't go in as easily as
she thought it would, so shestabbed her up to seven times. Jenna's
telling of Ronda's murder was cold anddetached. Detective Thrunburry said, usually when

(35:20):
you question juveniles, they're very emotional, but Jenna wasn't. She even mentioned
that Kenny was freaking out and pukedin her garbage can. I guess she
was fine. You can hear theactual recording on the episode of See No
Evil about this case. You can'tsee her for visual nuances, but she

(35:40):
does sound very matter of fact.Jenna told detectives that they fled in Ronda's
car, then stopped at a gasstation where she threw the murder weapon in
a trash can. She did cryonce in the recording, as she said,
I guess you hear this a lot, and the detective said what she
said, I'm sorry. Then shedried up immediately. Somehow, I doubt

(36:05):
there are actual tears on her face. When it came time to answer her
own father's painful questions about why Rondawas killed, Jenna admitted everything to Philip
too. Philip waited to call hisdaughter until she was awaiting trial, and
basically just asked her, why whydidn't she just run away with Kenny.

(36:29):
Why did they have to kill Ronda. She told him it wasn't that simple
and it was hard to explain.Philip asked her if she was really going
to kill him, and she saidyes. She also said she planned to
kill her little brother David and Shebecame exasperated on the call and repeatedly said,

(36:50):
what do you want from me?Philip couldn't believe what he was hearing.
He was seething, angry. It'shard to explain. Was just not
going to cut it when it cameto the brutal murder of his beloved wife,
not even from his own daughter.While little information had been released to
the public about suspects or the progressof the case, Philip did speak to

(37:14):
several news outlets saying he privately knewwho was responsible and the two people that
did this are monsters. Not muchlater, Philip was publicly unequivocal and how
he felt about Jenna, saying Ihate my daughter. I want the hardest
thing to happen to my daughter.Ever, I just don't care. I'm

(37:37):
worried about the people that I needto protect, and that's not one of
them. This never should have happened. I can't bring my wife back,
but I can sure us health fightto let everyone know that the system failed
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(41:29):
Oakley was laid to rest on Septemberseventh after her funeral service at Southland Christian
Church in Danville. In her obituary, all of her children and their spouses
were named, including her step sonDavid Oakley, but not Jenna. Of
course, Ronda's five small grandchildren werealso named. These babies who had been

(41:51):
such a joy to her. Theobituary even mentions her poor little dogs as
a dog lover. As soon asI read about the scene, I couldn't
help but wonder if they had seenwhat happened to their human mamma. It
was their barking that alerted David tohis stepmother's body downstairs. On October twentieth,

(42:12):
a grand jury indicted Jenna Oakley inBoyle Circuit Court for complicity to murder
and complicity to theft by unlawful taking. She would be tried as an adult.
Her boyfriend, who had been onlife support, was facing charges of
harboring a minor, but Kenneth wouldnever see the inside of a court room

(42:32):
because just a couple of days beforeJenna was indicted, he died, having
never been removed from the respirator.It wasn't until Jenna's arraignment in early December,
where she pled not guilty, thatshe learned for the first time that
not only was her boyfriend dead,but that he had been in a coma
since their arrest. She screamed andwailed in court when she was told detectives

(43:00):
they could hear her from the hallway. Now Jenna was all alone and would
be the sole suspect to face trial. Following the indictment, Philip told ABC
News the whole time, I knewwho did this, and so no,
it is not a surprise. Shedeserves everything she gets. Over two years

(43:22):
later, in a pre trial hearingin January twenty nineteen, police officers testified
about Jenna's demeanor and behavior on herway back to Kentucky after she arrived.
The defense was doing its best tohave Jenna's confession thrown out on the basis
that she wasn't in the presence ofan attorney during her first interview. Despite

(43:43):
Philip, her parent and legal guardian, giving his permission. Detectives also maintained
that they explained Jenna's rights to her. During those two years awaiting trial,
Jenna had been kept in a juvenilefacility getting mental health treatment as her appointed
defense team investigated her past, tryingto find out how a fifteen year old

(44:06):
could become such a cold killer.And on the other side, the Commonwealth's
attorney was concerned about the conflicting confessions. All they had from Kenny was his
note and it was pretty definitive.They certainly had Jenna on tape and video,
but she could say the same thingthat she was protecting Kenny and taking

(44:28):
the blame. Also, the Commonwealthwasn't sure how a jury would feel about
such a young defendant. The judgehad ruled she would be tried as an
adult, but that doesn't mean ajury will see it that way. So
they decided to offer her a pleadeal. She would plead guilty to first
degree manslaughter and theft by taking forstealing Rhonda's car. She could be sentenced

(44:54):
to ten years in prison for manslaughterand five for the car. Can you
believe that? Forget about Jenna fora minute, ten years for taking a
human life, five for taking acar. A couple of months shy of
her eighteenth birthday, Jenna Pauline WoodOakley pled guilty on January fourteenth, twenty

(45:16):
nineteen, to first degree manslaughter andtheft by taking. At a pre sentencing
hearing the following month before Boyle CircuitJudge Darren Peckler, Jenna expressed remorse,
saying, I cannot tell you howsorry I am for all the pain,
hurt and great frustration that it hascaused. I cannot tell you how sorry

(45:39):
I am that I did not tryto save her that day. I have
come to accept accountability for my inactionof not trying to help and save her
that day when she needed most tobe saved. So despite the plea,
she was still saying she didn't killRhonda. She's saying Kenny did it,
but she was responsible for her deathbecause she didn't try to stop him.

(46:04):
Philip didn't buy any of it.At no stage had his daughter apologized or
demonstrated remorse over what she had done. This was the first he had heard
any contrition. Now that Jenna's futurewas on the line, suddenly she had
found the words she couldn't manage tosay to her own father, and usually
during the elocution phase, the defendantmust explicitly admit, specifically and in detail

(46:30):
the actions and their reasons in exchangefor a reduced sentence. Jenna didn't do
that. I don't know what wenton behind the plea deal, but this
doesn't seem right. Outside court,Philip said, I just don't think it's
fair. Jenna is a very intelligentgirl, and to be able to tell
me she didn't know what she wasdoing, I'll never believe that. I

(46:52):
hate what she did. I don'tnecessarily hate my daughter. I want to
be able to forgive my daughter,but I just I don't know how.
I haven't figured that out yet.Jenna was facing a maximum of fifteen years
in prison, according to the LexingtonHerald Leader. Given Jenna's age and her
guilty plea, three sentencing options wereopen to the court. She could receive

(47:15):
probation or conditional discharge, be committedto the Department of Juvenile Justice to complete
a treatment program, or she couldbe sent to a state prison. The
defense request did the court consider committingJenna to treatment with the Department of Juvenile
Justice instead of sending her to prison. However, Philip was adamant about what

(47:38):
he felt was appropriate, telling thenewspaper, I think they've had two and
a half years to seek treatment.If they wanted treatment, she needs to
go to prison. That's what shedeserves. It wasn't until Jenna's final sentencing
hearing two months later in March thatmore details emerged of how concerned Philip and

(47:58):
Ronda had been about the teen's ownfor all behavior and the months leading up
to the murder. Jenna was wellbehaved at school, where she was well
liked by her teachers, but athome she was defiant and disobedient. Philip
had wondered if they should send herto some sort of residential program for troubled
teens, but Ronda wanted Jenna tostay in the home so they could keep

(48:22):
working on things together. Philip saidhe had also reached out to the Kentucky
State Police over his concerns that KennethNye was a sexual predator, but felt
brushed off when they referred his complaintto Indiana law enforcement. I explained to
you that at the time of therelationship, how Kenneth and I could have

(48:43):
been prosecuted in both states, buttechnically he did live in Indiana, or
they could even say Colorado where hewas stationed in the army. But still,
when you call the cops about agrown man seeing your child, you
expect them to do something about it. Defence mitigation specialists spoke about Jenna's childhood

(49:04):
as the precursor to her stunted psychosocialdevelopment. The court heard that after Philip
and his ex wife split many yearsbefore, Jenna was living in an unsafe
and chaotic environment in her mother's care. Child Protective services were called a couple
of times, mainly for the stateof her home and neglect, but Jenna

(49:25):
claimed she was also abused. Thedefense set her home life with her mother,
Christy Woodpoe had affected her ability todevelop emotionally in a healthy way and
left her vulnerable to a predator likeKenneth Nye. When Jenna was just three
years old, child protective services werefirst called to the home over concerns of

(49:47):
neglect. A neighbor had seen ratsaround the home and believed that Jenna and
her baby brother were being left alonefor long periods. Jenna's mother was reportedly
hostile towards one social worker. Initiallyrefusing to let her inside. When the
social worker did manage to observe Jenna'sliving situation, the home was littered with

(50:09):
garbage, invested with roaches and moldydishes stacked in the sink. The home
was squalid, practically a biohazard.Throughout the residence was vomit urine feces from
animals and humans. The landlord ofthis shithole was also Jenna's babysitter, and
told social workers that she noticed theyoung girl was often covered in so many

(50:34):
flea bites that the scratching caused herskin to bleed. She claimed to not
know the condition of the property,and yet she saw these little kids every
day, and where was her mother? Christy Poe got a job at a
local jail and soon fell in lovewith an inmate. She paid his bond
and moved him into the home withher children. The ex con stole from

(50:57):
her and brought other women there.According to Jenna's older half sister, who
left the home when Jenna was aboutmiddle school age, dynamics in the abuse
of home environment continued to deteriorate.Jenna told her defense team that she had
been physically and sexually abused while inher mother's care, and that there was

(51:19):
drug and alcohol abuse in the home. Then, as a preteen desperate for
attention and love, she met Kenny. Suddenly there was someone she felt would
protect and take care of her,the care she wasn't getting from her mother,
who the defense alleged encouraged her daughter'sin appropriate relationship with Kenneth Nye.

(51:40):
The defense told the court he wasgiving her everything she wanted. She just
looked up to him for everything.The worst thing that could have happened was
to lose that love. Suzanne Hooper, the mitigation specialist, said this didn't
happen in a vacuum. These thingsnever do. There's a big story here
for while we're in this room today. She researched Jenna's home life for two

(52:06):
years before the trial and had plentyof things to say about Christy Poe,
Jenna's mother, who refused to speakto her. Jenna's half sister, who
was older, did testify to abuse, but it wasn't as easy to claim
neglect at the Oakley household, thoughHooper did try. She had never even
seen inside the house, and fromall accounts, Jenna was well taken care

(52:30):
of by the Oakleys. Philip andRonda did everything they could to stop the
relationship with Kenny. Jenna was makinggood grades, she was a cheerleader.
Suzanne Hooper was not wrong about thingsnot happening in a vacuum. I have
no doubt Jenna had a terrible earlyhome life, and she and her brother

(52:51):
moved in with her dad for goodreason. I mentioned earlier in the episode
that Philip felt more people were responsible. I can only assume he meant Jenna's
mother and other adults who had abusedhis daughter. He insisted that he got
his daughter treatment. She saw atherapist, and she was thriving in his
care despite the pain of her breakupwith Kenny. On March twenty seventh,

(53:15):
Philip told the court and his victimimpact statement that he felt Kenneth had preyed
on his daughter, adding, whenJenna came to live with myself and Ronda,
it was to give her a betterlife. She loved Jenna. She
did everything in her power to carefor Jenna. She provided for Jenna.
I was going to do whatever Ineeded to do to protect her. But

(53:37):
despite the abuse she may have sufferedat her mother's home, Philip wasn't letting
her off the hook. He said, I want to know why you did
what you did, because myself norRonda ever abused you. There was no
better person on the face of thisearth than Ronda. You didn't have a
right to do what you did.Kenny didn't know our address, so you

(53:58):
had to tell him to let himin the house. You're saying you wish
you could have stopped it. Jenna, You're not a victim, You're a
victimizer. I'm going to pause nowfor a final commercial break. In the
end, Philip and the prosecution gottheir wish. Judge Peckler sentenced Jenna to

(54:23):
a maximum of fifteen years in prisonon both counts, with credit for time
served, saying I would note thatthis was particularly cruel, It was senseless,
It was even callous in that regard. It may not surprise you that
Jenna's age and the circumstances of herearly childhood were and continue to be a

(54:45):
huge factor for those who feel shereceived a disproportionately harsh sentence. There is
a change dot org petition that wascreated in June twenty twenty two called Jenna
was Not an Adult that details manyof the things is brought out in court
calling for a retrial. If Trotas a juvenile, she would already have

(55:05):
been released. To date, ithas eight hundred and seventy three signatures of
the thousand it was going for,and many people just signed to publicly write
that Jenna got what she deserved,and Jenna's family, including her own father,
is adamant that she is not servingenough time. Outside court, Philip
told the Lexington Herald Leader. Youalways think of your daughter as they're going

(55:30):
to prom, or you're going towalk them down the aisle someday. How
did mine turn out like this?I consider her and Kenny both monsters.
I just don't see how someone cando that to someone that's caring for them,
that's doing everything to love them.In washing his hands of his only
daughter, Philip told WDRB News whatpeople say about Jenna, I don't care.

(55:54):
Say phil however you want about her. I don't care. You grow
up and you have children, andyou say you've got unconditional love for your
children. That's not true. Ifound some way to not have unconditional love
for my child. Today, twentythree year old Jenna is detained at the
Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women in peeWeee Valley. According to prison records,

(56:20):
with good behavior, her minimum expirationof sentence date is April twenty twenty seven,
when she will be twenty six yearsold. She only needs to serve
eighty five percent of her sentence,which with time served is a bit over
eleven years. Her time in thejuvenile facility for over two years does count,
so she could get out early,and since she does show remorse with

(56:44):
good behavior, there is a chance. On the other hand, there isn't
a lot of goodwill for Jenna,despite her supporters. Fifteen years just isn't
a long time for what she did. Many, if not most, want
her to serve all of it.If she's serves the maximum, she will
be released in August twenty thirty one, when she is thirty years old,

(57:06):
which I think is likely. Itwas a vicious, premeditated murder. Jenna's
journal proved that without her confession,and she also planned to kill her father
and her thirteen year old brother.That's hard to forget. Jenna killed someone
who was trying to help her,who loved her. Ronda tried so hard

(57:28):
to bond with her and give hera normal life. She was involved in
Jenna's life, taking her to cheerleadingpractice and showing up for school events.
She took the teen shopping, whichJenna loved, and yes, she gave
Jenna boundaries, but she also steppedin and insisted they keep Jenna at home
when Philip was ready to give upand put her in a boarding school.

(57:52):
Philip still struggles to come to termswith the actions of his teenage daughter,
whom he and Ronda always loved andsupported. How Jenna could have had any
part in something so vicious, muchless written in such detail about planning the
slaughter of her entire family is unimaginable. I've covered teen killers before who killed

(58:13):
family members. In the Holly Harveyand Sandy Ketchum story, there was plenty
of abuse and neglect. It didnot mitigate their gruesome crime murdering. Holly's
grandparents, who were her guardians.Both got life sentences, but Holly's were
consecutive and Sandy's concurrent. Sandy wasdenied parole last year. Holly is ineligible

(58:36):
until next year. Twenty twenty five. Nathan Callahan brutally murdered his mother and
sister and planned to kill his father, and there was no history of abuse.
He was just mad that he wasgrounded. He came from a loving
home and still planned his vicious attackfor two weeks. He's serving a life
sentence. His last parole hearing wasin twenty twenty three, his next is

(59:00):
in twenty twenty nine. The Dukemurders is an even more chilling case of
a sixteen year old who didn't justkill his dad and stepmom, but also
two little sisters with the help ofthree friends. He is serving life in
prison without parole, while his nineteenyear old buddy was executed by the State

(59:22):
of Alabama for these murders when hewas forty two years old. Mark Duke's
death sentence was overturned because of hisage, so comparatively speaking, Jenna Oakley
got a really light sentence. Sheviciously killed Rhonda only eight years ago,
and she's only got a couple ofyears to go. All but one of

(59:43):
the teen killers I've covered before arestill in prison serving life sentences, and
that one I'm talking about was grantedclemency, which is really unusual. In
all of these cases, I havebrought up the cognitive and moral capacities of
teenage. I've talked about how doctorsbelieve the frontal lobe is not fully developed

(01:00:05):
until about age twenty five. That'swhere we make rational decisions. The latest
studies show brain development may continue intothe third decade of life, but at
least until the late twenties. Ihave also talked about the bizarre way we
will send an eighteen year old offto fight in war but won't serve him
alcohol. Our laws and customs treatthem like adults when it suits us,

(01:00:30):
and like children the rest of thetime. I talked about how we as
a society still see them as kidsuntil they do the unthinkable, and then
overnight they are instantly adults. WhenI reread those older scripts, I noticed
that I give much more gruesome detailthan I typically do. I had forgotten

(01:00:52):
about that, but I do remembermaking that decision because I felt like you
needed to hear those details to reallysee these killers clearly, to hear what
juries and judges did to come tothese decisions. But to be honest,
the more of these cases I cover, the more I see how hard it
is to understand them. I willsay that Philip Oakley's complete rejection of his

(01:01:15):
daughter is somewhat unusual. In Nathan'scase, his father stuck by him.
And I recently covered a case wherea twenty three year old man killed his
mom and brother and almost killed hisdad. I'm only mentioning this case because
he was under twenty five with thefrontal lobe argument. But this twenty three

(01:01:36):
year old did not have the historyof abuse, and I feel he manipulated
his father with his faith to forgivehim, to have him on his side
as he thought to get his deathsentence commuted, and it worked. Bart
Whittaker is the only man Texas GovernorGreg Abbott has ever given a commutation.
Of course, that is just myopinion, and I know it's controversial for

(01:02:00):
some of you. For that matter, all of these cases are controversial,
but I'm not the only one whobelieves Whittaker is a manipulative sociopath. Likewise,
in this case, Philip and othershave called Jenna manipulative before Rhonda's murder
and also said that she was calculatingand manipulative when she was navigating our court

(01:02:22):
system without a parent. Her fatherpoints out that she never apologized until she
was before the judge to be sentenced, and he did ask her, he
did try to talk to her andunderstand why she did it. She was
cold to him and refused to apologize. That's when he truly walked away.

(01:02:43):
But not having a parent stand byher is a distinction here. She was
fifteen and she was utterly alone.Her court mitigation expert said, mothers of
grown men who have brutally murdered peoplecall and text her asking about their kid,
not Jenna Oakley's. Jenna's mother isnowhere to be found in this case,

(01:03:05):
not in court, and she's neverbeen interviewed in print or on crime
shows like Philip has. She mayas well have been dead. But then
if she had come to court totestify for Jenna, she would have had
to face up to the allegations ofabuse that her other daughter and social workers
testified about. Maybe she just couldn'tdo that. Maybe she just never gave

(01:03:28):
a damn about Jenna, And perhapsPhilip didn't know his daughter as well as
he thought he did. Every otherweekend isn't the same as twenty four to
seven when it comes to raising achild, and he lived in a different
state than his kids. He couldn'talways be there for birthday parties, ballgames,
or school plays. The way otherparents with partial custody can. Please

(01:03:52):
know that I am not blaming orjudging him for that. Custody arrangements are
complicated even and the best of circumstances, and he happily took custody of both
his kids when given the chance.But I can't help but wonder that if
Jenna's upbringing was as bad as otherwitnesses said it was, how did Philip

(01:04:15):
not see it? Neighbors saw fleabites and neglect. He said she was
a normal, happy little girl,a loving, sweet daughter until she was
involved with Kenny, but he stillnever dreamed she would viciously kill her stepmom,
the only real mother she ever seeminglyhad. Philip loved his daughter,

(01:04:36):
He then openly publicly said he hatedher. He was very vocal about that.
He has since softened some and doesn'tuse the word hate, but he
still won't consider forgiveness. I believethe people who testified about Jenna's abuse of
childhood, and I also believe thatthe Oakleys did did not abuse, neglect,

(01:05:01):
or otherwise mistreat her. But thatdoesn't mean that her emotional growth was
not already stunted by her mother andearly home life. She was also a
decade away from full frontal lobe development. And I wasn't being ironic about Kenneth
Nye when I brought up the Romeoand Juliet laws. They really were a

(01:05:25):
factor in this case, but Idug much further into them before I even
realized that Kenneth and I died ofsuicide. I had skimmed the case that
Jemma sent me and then dug in, thinking I would be discussing his sentencing
at the end. I didn't realizeI would just be talking about Jenna Oakley

(01:05:45):
walking out of prison at the ageof thirty, maybe even younger, still
able to have a full adult life, get married, have a family,
and enjoy the grandchildren that Ronda lost. While I do believe that Jenna's confession
was true, that she was reallythe killer, I also believe she would

(01:06:08):
have done anything to save Kenny,and he certainly tried to pay the ultimate
price for her freedom. I justdon't believe Jenna would have given a full
confession if she had known about hissuicide. But this isn't Shakespeare. The
story isn't a romantic tragedy. It'sjust a tragedy. A senseless, stupid

(01:06:30):
tragedy that ruined as many lives asit took. Southern Fried True Crime is
hosted and produced by me Erica Kelly. Today's episode was researched and written by
me and Jimmy Harris. As usual, any editorial comments and opinions are my
own. Southern Fred's original music isby Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio and the

(01:06:54):
original graphic artist by Coy Horner.Today's episode was edited and mixed by Brandon
schck Sneyder of Southern Gothic and EricaKelly. If you have any case suggestions,
please go to my website, SouthernfredTruecrime dot com and click on the
listener suggestion tab or email sftcresearch atgmail dot com. This is the best
way for me to get these littleknown cases. Y'all always send me.

(01:07:15):
Please remember that I do not acceptsuggestions on social media private messages, but
please come join our Facebook group,Southern Fred Truecrime Fans Discussion Group, where
we swap recipes, worship Dolly Parton, and share memes. We do,
of course discuss true crime, notjust Southern fraud, but all kinds,
but it is still very much aSouthern lifestyle group. Our group is a

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safe and thun corner of Facebook,and by god, we mean it when
we say no shuit as is allowed. It's not just a motto, it's
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thanks so much for listening. Y'all. Take care