Kentucky police arrested three individuals last Wednesday in connection with the death of a baby boy last year, who is believed to be the result of incest.
On March 1, 2023, Harrison Memorial Hospital’s emergency room contacted Pendelton County dispatchers to request a welfare check at a home where they suspected a baby boy was in trouble. The mother of the newborn, Kimberly Shepperd, aged 28, went to the hospital stating she had a miscarriage, as reported by WXIX.
The hospital staff contacted authorities, believing that the baby had been abandoned. Officers who arrived at the unoccupied home discovered the 6-pound baby on a mattress, wrapped in a blanket.
Falmouth Police Chief Marty Hart mentioned, "The placenta was still connected to the baby."
After the unresponsive baby was declared deceased at the hospital, an investigation commenced. A DNA test was conducted nine months later, confirming that Shepperd’s late son was fathered by her uncle, Allen Newkirk, 62.
According to WCPO, Sheppard confessed that her uncle impregnated her and she concealed the pregnancy. After giving birth, her grandfather, Billy Shepperd, 82, took her to the hospital. She allegedly informed her grandfather that she had a miscarriage.
WXIX reported that the cause of the newborn’s death remains unknown even a year later.
Billy Shepperd, charged with abuse of a corpse, is currently released on a $5,000 bond. Newkirk faces incest charges and is in custody on a $20,000 bond. Kimberly Shepperd is charged with incest, abuse of a corpse, and concealing a birth and is free on a $20,000 bond.
[Feature Photo: Allen Newkirk and Kimberly Shepperd/Falmouth Police Department]