220: The Murder of Rhonda Oakley
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Southern Fried True Crime covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners, and there may also be some explicit language used. Listener discretion is advised. September 1st, 2016 was a warm and partly cloudy afternoon in central Kentucky. 52-year-old Rhonda Oakley pulled in her driveway in Junction City at around 3 p.m. She was home early after attending a conference in Louisville the day before.

She loved her job and had fun at the conference, but she and her husband, Philip, had missed each other, even though it was just one night apart. Though they had been married a couple of years, they were practically still in their honeymoon phase, and Rhonda had recently become a full-time stepmother. She hadn't expected to be parenting again at her age, but she happily took on the role and loved her husband's kids like they were her own.

Rhonda had adult children of her own, who had all long since flown the nest. Philip Oakley had two children from his previous marriage, a daughter, 15-year-old Jenna, and son, 13-year-old David. They had been living in Arlington, Indiana with their mother, Christy. But a few months earlier, Jenna had asked if she could move in with her dad.

Philip had told his children his door was always open, so he was glad to have Jenna come live with him, and her brother David decided to come with her. The children had adjusted to their new school, and for Philip, it was a chance to develop a deeper relationship with his kids. He and Rhonda were intent on providing a warm and supportive environment where they hoped the kids would thrive.

But just five months after Jenna and David moved in, on that warm late summer afternoon, Rhonda Oakley was found viciously murdered. Welcome to Episode 220, The Murder of Rhonda Oakley. Rhonda Denise Raines was born on March 5th, 1964, to parents Howard and Mabel. She and her older sister Patty grew up in Liberty, a town in Casey County, Kentucky.

Sadly, in 1971, when Rhonda was just seven years old, her father Howard passed away. In December 1981, 17-year-old Rhonda married a 22-year-old young man named Bobby Joe and graduated from Casey County High School in May the following year. The couple had a son and daughter, Joey and Jennifer.

This marriage didn't last long, and young Rhonda went on to marry again, to a man named Donald, and she had three more children: Courtney, Caitlin, and Daniel. Unfortunately, this marriage didn't last either. Now, a single mom to five children, Rhonda worked hard to give her kids a good life.

She was a customer service manager at RR Donnelly in Danville, Kentucky, where she had worked happily for 30 years. She was respected and very well liked by her coworkers. Rhonda's family and friends say she was outgoing, bubbly, and known for being generous and loving, the kind of friendly lady who never met a stranger. And for a while, she wasn't interested in another husband. She just wanted to take care of her kids.

Frankly, she was probably too busy working and raising kids to focus on her love life. But by 2008, with all her kids moved out, the 44-year-old was enjoying taking time for herself and exploring the possibility of finding love again. One day, sitting at the bar in Danville's Old Bridge Golf Club, Rhonda met 37-year-old Phillip Oakley. Phillip was a quieter personality than Rhonda, much more reserved.

But opposites often attract. And pretty much from the day they met, Rhonda and Phillip were inseparable. And they had more in common than just golf. Phillip, who worked as a production supervisor, was also divorced and a single parent. Though it was part-time and his kids were still little, elementary school ages. In 2008, Jenna would have been about seven and David five.

The Oakley kids lived in Arlington, Indiana with their mom, Christy Wood Poe. But Philip maintains he had a close relationship with them. He saw his children every other weekend. It was a three-hour drive, six total, for just a two-day visit. But he said he was close to his children and loved having them home with him. That drive was definitely worth it for everyone. And his new wife, Rhonda, soon loved spending time with his kids as a family.

On December 27th, 2013, Philip and Rhonda tied the knot in a low-key ceremony. They looked forward to blending their families and spending the rest of their lives together. For a while, it was mostly just them two. They worked and spent a lot of that wonderful newlywed time together. Rhonda was totally devoted to the couple's three docs and dogs, Cinderella, Jonas, and Oliver.

And by the time they were married, Rhonda had four grandbabies, soon to be five. Like most grandparents, Rhonda adored those babies and had close relationships with all her kids. She and Phillip lived in a small town called Junction City on the outskirts of Danville. The population there has hovered under 2,300 people for the last couple of decades.

Junction City and Greater Danville are nestled in the beautiful rolling hills of the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, 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 actual autumns and springs unlike states further south.

Danville is known as the birthplace of bluegrass, and it's also a college town, home to the liberal arts school, Center 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 has its own group. We look out for each other and feel very safe out here. Junction City is a lot like that. Neighbors know each other's business, but also look out for each other, and it's a really safe place to live.

On a scale of 1 to 100, Junction City ranks at 7.2 in its crime rate. Not to be a smarty pants, but there's not much crime because there's not much to do. Oh, there's plenty of outdoor activities in creeks and woods. But when you go to websites, even local message boards, most things listed are for nearby towns and cities, which is just fine. Because if you want to buy a house, they're actually still affordable in Junction City.

It's definitely still a seller's market, but you can certainly get more out of a house there for your dollars. And I did see a couple of million-dollar homes, but they're not really mansions. Their price is based on hundreds of acreage on those properties. Lots of folks like living in small towns for these very reasons. They can commute to larger cities while having a nice house and or lots of land to come home to.

Not that Danville would really be much of a commute. It takes a little over 10 minutes to get there. Date nights in Danville would have been easy for Phillip and Rhonda. A little over two years into their marriage in April 2016 was when 15-year-old Jenna decided she wanted to live with her dad after she had been fighting with her mom. As promised, Phillip's door was always open to his daughter. Phillip and Rhonda welcomed the teen into their home without question.

with 13-year-old David soon joining his sister. Philip and Rhonda both wanted to provide as safe and stable a new home for their children as possible. While many kids struggled to adjust to a new home environment and social setting, the Oakley children were really doing well. Jenna was a good student and cheerleader at Boyle County High School.

Philip was overwhelmed with the kindness, support, and generosity Rhonda showed towards her two stepchildren. Later telling WBRD News, "'If there was a book written about the perfect wife, "'the perfect mother, the perfect Nana, "'that would be my wife. "'I know she made me a better person. "'She changed my life.'" I'm going to pause now for a short commercial break.

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That September 1st, David rode the bus home from school and was dropped off at 4 p.m. When he got there, no one else was home. Jenna wasn't home from school yet, and his dad was still at work. His stepmom, Rhonda, should be on her way home from out of town. She had been at that conference in Louisville. Before starting his homework, David loaded the dishwasher, which was one of his chores.

He could hear the dogs barking and howling from down in the basement. No one else was home, so it was odd that they were making such a racket. When David went downstairs to see what the fuss was about, he could see the dogs were scratching at the spare bedroom door. There were two bedrooms, Jenna's and this room that the dogs were barking at. Opening the door and turning on the light, David was confronted with a gruesome sight.

Rhonda's body lay face up, motionless on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her head. A panicked and I'm sure hysterical David ran next door where a neighbor called 911. When officers arrived, they found Rhonda had been brutally attacked, stabbed multiple times in her neck. There was a trash bag over her face and duct tape on her mouth. The cops opened Jenna's door and saw a trash can with vomit in it.

There was no sign of a murder weapon, but upstairs, the knife block in the kitchen was missing a knife. Philip soon pulled into the driveway, coming home from work. David had already called his cell phone, so he was in a panic. Daddy, Rhonda's gone, was all the kid could get out. Seeing first responders' vehicles and his distraught son outside the house, his stomach dropped.

When Kentucky State Police broke the news that Rhonda had been 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 a vicious way? That kind of attack didn't look like a run-of-the-mill robbery. There were no signs of forced entry, so it didn't seem like a break-in or home invasion.

But still, robbery could be a motive. Rhonda's 2014 white Honda Civic was missing from the driveway, so a bolo was issued for the vehicle. So far, the car looked like the only thing missing, except for 15-year-old Jenna. Phillip had been at work all day, so he wasn't a suspect. He was with law enforcement, doing everything he could to help. He told police that he had gotten a message from Boyle County High School that Jenna was absent.

He had thought she was homesick. Now he and the police were worried that Jenna had witnessed the murder and had been abducted. As the hours passed and Jenna didn't show up or call, Philip later said he just knew in his gut almost right away that he knew who did this. He told police about Jenna's ex-boyfriend, 20-year-old Kenneth Ryan Nye, who was from Arlington, Indiana.

The couple had been dating for several years, back from when Jenna was living there with her mom. They rode the same school bus, though they would have been several grades apart. At the time they met, Jenna would have been 12 years old at most, and Kenneth, 17. Okay, quick sidebar. Almost a legal adult, Kenneth committed a crime by grooming this supposedly romantic relationship with a child.

i say supposedly because at that age you're just not old enough to understand and participate in actual romantic love i mean seriously some girls at 12 years old have not even had their first period sexual contact with children that age is and should be a crime however there are romeo and juliet laws or practices in many states

Authorities take into consideration that there's a difference between an almost grown man and a preteen and say a relationship between a 15 and 17 year old. Named after Shakespeare's young lovers, Romeo and Juliet exceptions protect young adults from prosecution when they are in a consensual relationship with someone close in age. So these laws basically take the age difference and count the years.

Four to five years is typically the cutoff for authorities to step in. But along with the five-year age gap, children under 12 years of age cannot consent to a sexual relationship. In 2016 in Kentucky, the age of consent was 16 years old, and there were no Romeo and Juliet laws in effect. That means that any individual who engaged in sexual conduct with a minor under 16 could face prosecution for statutory rape.

For the record, in Indiana, the cutoff is four years. Indiana's Romeo and Juliet law allows 14 and 15-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 that more later.

At this point, it doesn't matter for this case. But before I get corrected, as of February 2024, Kentucky does have Romeo and Juliet laws. Right now, when a child is 14 or 15 and the partner is younger than 21, the Romeo and Juliet exception would apply. And Jenna and Kenneth would have been in the right age range, as much as we might not like it.

I just wanted to give you an overview of what Philip and Rhonda could have done, as well as what Jenna's mother, Christy, could have done when the relationship first began, legally. But there is also this. There are Romeo and Juliet laws, and then there is the Romeo and Juliet effect. Try to split up a young couple, and you just push them closer together. Tearing them apart makes them become more infatuated with each other.

Having said that, what Kenneth and I was doing was criminal, and as a parent, I would have reacted exactly how Philip and Rhonda do. But you do run the risk of Juliet digging her heels in. When Philip and Rhonda learned about the inappropriate relationship after Jenna moved to Kentucky, they were immediately concerned. 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 seemed to do the trick. Both Kenny and Jenna seemed to take Philip and Rhonda's concerns seriously and agreed to part ways. Philip said he called Kenny directly, told him 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. Many parents might have pressed charges. Hell, I might have.

but it really can make things much worse you don't want to alienate your kid even more by pressing charges you will seem much more reasonable and forgiving if you give them a chance to do the right thing and end the relationship willingly but there's no doubt it is a complex problem to have with a young teen and parents have to make the call they believe is right okay sidebar over

After Philip explained the situation with his daughter to the police, the priority for detectives was finding Jenna and tracking down Kenneth Nye, if only to eliminate him as a suspect. After graduating from high school, Kenny had enlisted in the army and was now stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado. He might have an alibi.

According to military records, he was on active duty. So could he have really driven almost 1,200 miles to kidnap Jenna after being out of contact with her for so long? But a detective from the Kentucky State Police named Frank Throneberry was an ex-Marine. So he gave the Fort Carson base a call and asked for a favor.

He found out that Kenny had changed his mind about the army. In fact, he had recently applied for a discharge on the basis of being a conscientious objector. But then, he found out 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 a dishonorable discharge on August 31st, the day before Rhonda's murder.

After his discharge, the Army paid for a flight back to Indiana and even dropped him off at the airport. But investigators learned that at the last minute, his ticket was changed. At 3:30 p.m., the same day as his discharge, Kenneth arrived at the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, about a 50-minute drive from Danville. Had Kenny decided to surprise Jenna before heading back to Indiana?

CCTV footage from the airport tracked Kenny from his gate all the way outside to the taxi and rideshare area. That's one thing about more modern cases. It is sometimes amazing how far you can be followed on CCTV as long as detectives 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 Nye was in Kentucky, and they had a recent photo of him from the footage. Detectives decided to release details to the media about 15-year-old Jenna Oakley. This was not an Amber Alert, but bulletins on the news stations. Luckily, an Uber driver remembered Kenneth Nye. He had picked him up from the airport.

The driver told detectives he remembered a guy named Kenny and where he dropped him off on the street where the Oakleys lived. He remembered Kenny saying he had just left the army, that he was visiting some old friends who lived just down the street. The driver thought it was strange that he didn't want him to pull up to the door, but Kenny said he wanted to surprise his friends and to drop him off at the end of the street. They lived on Old Houstonville Road,

That was on the afternoon of August 31st, about 24 hours before Rhonda's murder. I'm going to pause now to hear a word from our sponsors. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

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Detectives set to work tracking Kenny's cell phone. If they could locate him, hopefully, they would find Jenna safe and unharmed. Soon, Kenny's cell pinged in the city of Glasgow, about 100 miles southwest of 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 ex-boyfriend.

But Kenny's cell phone was moving and was next picked up around I-65 near Nashville, Tennessee. Unfortunately, investigators were not receiving the location information in real time to determine what route Kenneth might be taking. By the time they got the notification of a new location, there was a delay of up to 45 minutes. According to Kenny's cell phone carrier, this was because the phone was being turned on and off.

By the next day, a tip came in reporting a sighting of Jenna. A Walmart store manager in Danville called in to say that on September 1st, the teen was spotted in their store. When law enforcement reviewed the CCTV footage, Jenna could clearly be seen. And accompanying her was Kenneth Nye. He was wearing the same t-shirt he had on at the airport. It's still broad daylight in the footage as they walk into the store.

probably not long after Rhonda's murder. Jenna didn't appear injured or distressed, and her body language was relaxed as she made her way around the store with Kenny. She certainly didn't look like she was being held against her will or coerced in any way. She touched Kenny's arm in an intimate gesture as they walked through the store, and Jenna was walking ahead of Kenny like she knew where she was going.

They bought a phone charger and Detective Thornberry said the closer he watched, he noticed they walked quickly and looked stressed. They walked out of the store, back into the parking lot and got into a car that looked very much like Rhonda's missing Honda and drove off. In one way, Jenna's demeanor from the footage was a relief for detectives and her family to know that she was okay, but it raised a lot of other troubling questions.

What did Jenna know about Rhonda's murder? Despite her age, could she possibly have been involved in the murder? Why had she left home and not made contact with her father? The answers quickly came together as officers searched Jenna's bedroom and found her journal. In an entry dated July 7th, less than two months earlier, she had written,

The he Jenna was writing about was Kenneth Nye. And despite what the couple had led Philip and Rhonda to believe, they had not broken up at all.

At least from Jenna's perspective, they were very much intent 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. Writing in one of several chilling entries, "'They'll be dead soon, thankfully.'"

Going a sinister step further, Jenna had also set out a detailed bullet point list of how her plan would be executed, which read as follows. Kill Philip first, between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Two knives prepared with me. Kill David last. Kill Rhonda second, between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Kill David in his room.

Ask Philip to go downstairs real quick. Then as we're going down, slice his neck in the front. Walk into Rhonda's bedroom and stab her. Stab David in his bed. Another grisly to-do list noted, let him know about my plan, have a bag packed and prepared, have a knife prepared, stab them. The blind hatred and callousness of Jenna's journal was shocking.

Philip now knew there was no way his daughter was innocent or that she had been abducted. It was obvious she had had a role in Rhonda's murder. But how much? Did she actually kill Rhonda or did Kenny? Throughout September 2nd, investigators could tell from the pings from Kenny's cell that he and Jenna were covering a lot of ground as they headed west. They continued through Tennessee into Missouri, Arkansas, and then Oklahoma.

That was until September 3rd, when they apparently stopped. They pinged in the same place for a while, but they were now over 1,000 miles away in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Kentucky State Police contacted the Tucumcari Police Department, who were soon on the lookout for Rhonda's Honda and the two fugitives. Kenny's cell phone pings placed the vehicle possibly at a truck stop, so local officers swung into action.

That night, in the parking lot of a Motel 6 along Route 66 Boulevard, Corporal Cody Birch spotted a vehicle matching the description and license plates. Approaching in the darkness, he shined his flashlight into the car and saw a young couple inside who appeared to be asleep. The girl was leaning against the guy, kind of cuddled up, but when she 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 Burch drew his weapon, keeping it safely pointed at the ground, and he could see the young man talking to the girl. After a few moments, the engine shut off. When backup arrived, Jenna and Kenny were arrested. 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 right away who her boyfriend was. "Kenny Nye," she said. The cop later said she was wailing over and over, "Tell Kenny I love him. Make sure you tell him I love him." If you watch the footage, this isn't the confident young woman who walked through Walmart. It's a crying teenager. They were separated and taken into custody.

Kenny was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and both were charged with possessing stolen property. Jenna was put into juvenile detention while Kenny was taken to the Quay County Jail. Inside Rhonda's car, New Mexico State Police found the mess of two people who had been living in the car while they were on the run. Clothes, snacks, energy drinks, food wrappers, and empty bottles were strewn all over the car.

Just 36 hours later, on September 5th, two days before Rhonda's funeral, Phillip learned that Kenny had been released, according to online prison records. Rhonda's family was anxiously watching the website, waiting for Kenny and Jenna to be extradited. Some news 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 set Phillip's mind at ease.

Kenny Nye had not been released. He had been transported to a hospital in Texas and was in critical condition. Within hours of being taken to jail, he had hanged himself with his blanket. He was still alive but was now on life support.

Inside his jail cell was a note which read, I, Kenneth Nye, admit to killing Rhonda Oakley. Jenna had nothing to do with it. She was not in the house when I killed Rhonda. I take blame for everything. I am truly sorry. The note was a convenient way for Jenna to be absolved of any responsibility in Rhonda's murder, but the idea that she was totally blameless didn't job with the calculated and premeditated journal entries planning the murder of her whole family.

Investigators held back on telling Jenna what had happened to her boyfriend until she could be formally questioned by Kentucky State Police. If by some chance she admitted to being the orchestrator, this would prove Kenny was lying in the note. On September 12th, Jenna was extradited to Kentucky and held without bond. Kentucky State detectives said she was informed of her rights and that Philip agreed to the interview. Jenna confessed to everything.

She confirmed that her relationship with Kenny Nye never ended and that she continued to communicate with him by using a friend's cell phone while she was at school. Jenna also admitted that the night before Rhonda was murdered, Kenny secretly spent the night with her in her bedroom after taking that Uber to the house. Jenna even said she had taken the knife sometime in the night before so they would be ready.

The next morning, Phillip headed off to work as usual and Dylan went to school while Rhonda was still out of town. She was due back that evening, but Jenna stayed home from school with Kenny hiding in her room. They hung out in the downstairs area of the house, but were startled around 3 p.m. when they heard Rhonda arrive home earlier than expected and was walking down to the basement. She was carrying a laundry basket and walked into Jenna's bedroom,

Kenny jumped in the closet to hide as Rhonda walked in. She was surprised to see Jenna and immediately asked why she wasn't in school, which started an argument that quickly escalated into a physical fight. Jenna told detectives she could see that Rhonda was about to get smart with her, and so she basically jumped her stepmother. She was trying to strangle Rhonda, but told detectives Kenny had to jump out of the closet and help her because Rhonda was bigger than her.

He put Rhonda in a chokehold and she seemed to pass out. And then they dragged her into the other bedroom. Jenna said she covered Rhonda's mouth with duct tape and put the bag over her 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 she stabbed her up to seven times. Jenna's telling of Rhonda's murder was cold and detached.

Detective Thrunberry said, usually when you question juveniles, they're very emotional, but Jenna wasn't. She even mentioned that Kenny was freaking out and puked in her garbage can. I guess she was fine. You can hear the actual recording on the episode of See No Evil about this case. You can't see her for visual nuances, but she does sound very matter-of-fact.

Jenna told detectives that they fled in Rhonda's car, then stopped at a gas station where she threw the murder weapon in a trash can. She did cry once in the recording as she said, I guess you hear this a lot. And the detective said, what? And she said, I'm sorry. Then she dried up immediately. Somehow, I doubt there were actual tears on her face.

When it came time to answer her own father's painful questions about why Rhonda was killed, Jenna admitted everything to Philip too. Philip waited to call his daughter until she was awaiting trial and basically just asked her why. Why didn't she just run away with Kenny? Why did they have to kill Rhonda? 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 said yes.

She also said she planned to kill her little brother David, and she became exasperated on the call and repeatedly said, "What do you want from me?" Philip couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was seething angry. It's hard to explain, was just not gonna cut it when it came to 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 progress of the case,

Philip did speak to several news outlets, saying he privately knew who was responsible and the two people that did this are monsters. Not much later, Philip was publicly unequivocal in how he felt about Jenna, saying...

I hate my daughter. I want the hardest thing to happen to my daughter ever. I just don't care. I'm worried about the people that I need to protect, and that's not one of them. This never should have happened. I can't bring my wife back, but I can sure as hell fight to let everyone know that the system failed us. There's other people that I consider responsible for this too. I'm going to pause now to hear a word from our sponsors.

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Start saving today and roll at chministries.org/solution. Rhonda Raines Oakley was laid to rest on September 7th after her funeral service at Southland Christian Church in Danville. In her obituary, all of her children and their spouses were named, including her stepson, David Oakley, but not Jenna, of course. Rhonda's five small grandchildren were also named. These babies who had been such a joy to her.

The obituary even mentions her poor little dogs. As a dog lover, as soon as I read about the scene, I couldn't help but wonder if they had seen what happened to their human mama. It was their barking that alerted David to his stepmother's body downstairs. On October 20th, a grand jury indicted Jenna Oakley in Boyle 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 on life support, was facing charges of harboring a minor. But Kenneth would never see the inside of a courtroom because just a couple of days before Jenna 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, that she 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 and wailed in court when she was told. Detectives said 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 knew who did this. And so, no, it is not a surprise. She deserves everything she gets."

Over two years later, in a pretrial hearing in January 2019, police officers testified about Jenna's demeanor and behavior on her way back to Kentucky after she arrived. The defense was doing its best to have Jenna's confession thrown out on the basis that she wasn't in the presence of an attorney during her first interview, despite Phillip, 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 juvenile facility getting mental health treatment as her appointed defense team investigated her past, trying to find out how a 15-year-old 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 thing, that she was protecting Kenny and taking the blame. Also, the Commonwealth wasn't sure how a jury would feel about such a young defendant. The judge had ruled she would be tried as an adult, but that doesn't mean a jury will see it that way. So they decided to offer her a plea deal.

She would plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter and theft by taking for stealing Rhonda's car. She could be sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter and five for the car. Can you believe that? Forget about Jenna for a minute. 10 years for taking a human life, five for taking a car.

A couple of months shy of her 18th birthday, Jenna Pauline Wood Oakley pled guilty on January 14th, 2019 to first-degree manslaughter and theft by taking. At a pre-sentencing hearing the following month before Boyle Circuit Judge Darren Peckler

Jenna expressed remorse, saying, I cannot tell you how sorry I am for all the pain, hurt, and great frustration that it has caused. I cannot tell you how sorry I am that I did not try to save her that day. I have come to accept accountability for my inaction of not trying to help and save her that day when she needed most to be saved. So, despite the plea, she was still saying she didn't kill Rhonda. She's saying Kenny did it.

but she was responsible for her death because she didn't try to stop him. 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 future was on the line, suddenly she had found the words she couldn't manage to say to her own father.

And usually during the elocution phase, the defendant must explicitly admit specifically and in detail the actions and their reasons in exchange for a reduced sentence. Jenna didn't do that. I don't know what went on 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 intelligent girl, and to be able to tell me she didn't know what she was doing, I'll never believe that. I hate what she did. I don't necessarily hate my daughter. I want to be able to forgive my daughter, but I just don't know how. I haven't figured that out yet." Jenna was facing a maximum of 15 years in prison.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, given Jenna's age and her guilty plea, three sentencing options were open to the court. She could receive probation or conditional discharge, be committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice to complete a treatment program, or she could be sent to a state prison. The defense requested the court consider committing Jenna to treatment with the Department of Juvenile Justice instead of sending her to prison.

However, Philip was adamant about what he felt was appropriate, telling the newspaper, "'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 she deserves.'" It wasn't until Jenna's final sentencing hearing two months later in March that more details emerged of how concerned Philip and Rhonda had been about the teen's overall behavior in the months leading up to the murder.

Jenna was well behaved at school where she was well liked by her teachers. But at home, she was defiant and disobedient. Philip had wondered if they should send her to some sort of residential program for troubled teens. But Rhonda wanted Jenna to stay in the home so they could keep working on things together.

Phillips said he had also reached out to the Kentucky State Police over his concerns that Kenneth Nye was a sexual predator, but felt brushed off when they referred his complaint to Indiana law enforcement. I explained to you that at the time of the relationship, how Kenneth Nye could have been prosecuted in both states, but technically he did live in Indiana.

or they could even say Colorado, where he was stationed in the Army. But still, when you call the cops about a grown man seeing your child, you expect them to do something about it. Defense mitigation specialists spoke about Jenna's childhood as the precursor to her stunted psychosocial development. The court heard that after Phillip and his ex-wife split many years before, 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 state of her home and neglect. But Jenna claimed she was also abused. The defense said her home life with her mother, Christy Wood Poe, had affected her ability to develop emotionally in a healthy way and left her vulnerable to a predator like Kenneth Nye.

When Jenna was just three years old, Child Protective Services were first called to the home over concerns of neglect. A neighbor had seen rats around the home and believed that Jenna and her baby brother were being left alone for long periods. Jenna's mother was reportedly hostile towards one social worker, initially refusing to let her inside. When the social worker did manage to observe Jenna's living situation,

The home was littered with garbage, infested with roaches and moldy dishes stacked in the sink. The home was squalid, practically a biohazard. Throughout the residence was vomit, urine, feces from animals and humans. The landlord of this shithole was also Jenna's babysitter and told social workers that she noticed the young girl was often covered in so many flea bites that the scratching caused her skin 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 love with an inmate. She paid his bond and moved him into the home with her children. The ex-con stole from her and brought other women there.

According to Jenna's older half-sister, who left the home when Jenna was about middle school age, dynamics in the abusive home environment continued to deteriorate. Jenna told her defense team that she had been physically and sexually abused while in her mother's care, and that there was 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's inappropriate relationship with Kenneth Nye. The defense told the court he was giving 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 things never do. There's a big story here for why we're in this room today.'" She researched Jenna's home life for two years before the trial and had plenty of things to say about Christy Poe, Jenna's mother, who refused to speak to 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, though Hooper did try. She had never even seen inside the house. And from all accounts, Jenna was well taken care of by the Oakleys. Philip and Rhonda did everything they could to stop the relationship with Kenny. Jenna was making good grades. She was a cheerleader. Suzanne Hooper was not wrong about things not happening in a vacuum.

I have no doubt Jenna had a terrible early home life, and she and her brother moved in with her dad for good reason. 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 abused his daughter. He insisted that he got his daughter treatment. She saw a therapist, and she was thriving in his care, despite the pain of her breakup with Kenny.

On March 27th, Philip told the court in his victim impact statement that he felt Kenneth had preyed on his daughter, adding, "'When Jenna came to live with myself and Rhonda, "'it was to give her a better life. "'She loved Jenna. "'She did everything in her power to care for Jenna. "'She provided for Jenna. "'I was going to do whatever I needed to do to protect her.'"

But despite the abuse she may have suffered at her mother's home, Phillip wasn't letting her off the hook. He said, "I want to know why you did what you did. Because myself nor Rhonda ever abused you. There was no better person on the face of this earth than Rhonda. You didn't have a right to do what you did. Kenny didn't know our address, so you had to tell him. You had to let him in the house. You're saying you wish you could have stopped it? Jenna, you're not a victim.

In the end, Philip and the prosecution got their wish. Judge Peckler sentenced Jenna to a maximum of 15 years in prison on both counts with credit for time served, saying,

It may not surprise you that Jenna's age and the circumstances of her early childhood were and continue to be a huge factor for those who feel she received a disproportionately harsh sentence. There is a Change.org petition that was created in June 2022 called Jenna Was Not an Adult that details many of the things brought out in court calling for a retrial.

If tried as a juvenile, she would already have been released. To date, it has 873 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 serving enough time. Outside court, Philip told the Lexington Herald-Leader, "You always think of your daughter as 'they're going to prom' or 'you're going to walk 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 can do 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, What people say about Jenna, I don't care. Say, feel however you want about her. I don't care. You grow up and you have children and you say you've got unconditional love for your children. That's not true. I found some way to not have unconditional love for my child.

Today, 23-year-old Jenna is detained at the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women in Peewee Valley. According to prison records, with good behavior, her minimum expiration of sentence date is April 2027, when she will be 26 years old. She only needs to serve 85% of her sentence, which with time served is a bit over 11 years. Her time in the juvenile facility for over two years does count.

so she could get out early. And since she does show remorse with good behavior, there is a chance. On the other hand, there isn't a lot of goodwill for Jenna despite her supporters. 15 years just isn't a long time for what she did. Many, if not most, want her to serve all of it. If she serves the maximum, she will be released in August 2031 when she is 30 years old, which I think is likely.

It was a vicious, premeditated murder. Jenna's journal proved that without her confession. And she also planned to kill her father and her 13-year-old brother. That's hard to forget. Jenna killed someone who was trying to help her, who loved her.

Rhonda tried so hard to bond with her and give her a normal life. She was involved in Jenna's life, taking her to cheerleading practice and showing up for school events. She took the teen shopping, which Jenna loved. And yes, she gave Jenna boundaries. But she also stepped in and insisted they keep Jenna at home when Phillip was ready to give up and put her in a boarding school.

Philip still struggles to come to terms with the actions of his teenage daughter, whom he and Rhonda always loved and supported. How Jenna could have had any part in something so vicious, much less written in such detail about planning the slaughter of her entire family, is unimaginable.

I've covered teen killers before. Who killed family members? In the Holly Harvey and Sandy Ketchum story, there was plenty of abuse and neglect. It did not 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 was denied parole last year. Holly isn't eligible until next year, 2025.

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 was grounded. He came from a loving home and still planned his vicious attack for two weeks. He's serving a life sentence. His last parole hearing was in 2023. His next is in 2029.

The Duke murders is an even more chilling case of a 16-year-old who didn't just kill his dad and stepmom, but also two little sisters with the help of three friends. He is serving life in prison without parole, while his 19-year-old buddy was executed by the state of Alabama for these murders when he was 42 years old. Mark Duke's death sentence was overturned because of his age.

So, comparatively speaking, Jenna Oakley got a really light sentence. She viciously killed Rhonda only eight years ago, and she's only got a couple of years to go. All but one of the teen killers I've covered before are still in prison, serving life sentences. And that one I'm talking about was granted clemency, which is really unusual. In all of these cases, I have brought up the cognitive and moral capacities of teenagers.

I've talked about how doctors believe the frontal lobe is not fully developed until about age 25. That's where we make rational decisions. The latest studies show brain development may continue into the third decade of life, but at least until the late 20s. I have also talked about the bizarre way we will send an 18-year-old off to fight in war, but won't serve him alcohol.

I talked about how we, as a society, still see them as kids until they do the unthinkable. And then overnight, they are instantly adults. When I reread those older scripts, I noticed that I give much more gruesome detail than I typically do.

I had forgotten about that, but I do remember making that decision because I felt like you needed to hear those details to really see these killers clearly, to hear what juries and judges did to come to these decisions. But to be honest, the more of these cases I cover, the more I see how hard it is to understand them. I will say that Philip Oakley's complete rejection of his daughter is somewhat unusual. In Nathan's case, his father stuck by him,

And I recently covered a case where a 23-year-old man killed his mom and brother and almost killed his dad. I'm only mentioning this case because he was under 25 with the frontal lobe argument. But this 23-year-old did not have a history of abuse and I feel he manipulated his father with his faith to forgive him.

to have him on his side as he fought to get his death sentence commuted. And it worked. Bart Whitaker is the only man Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ever given a commutation. Of course, that is just my opinion. And I know it's controversial for some of you. For that matter, all of these cases are controversial. But I'm not the only one who believes Whitaker is a manipulative sociopath.

Likewise, in this case, Philip and others have called Jenna manipulative before Rhonda's murder and also said that she was calculating and manipulative when she was navigating our court system without a parent. Her father points 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 and understand why she did it.

She was cold to him and refused to apologize. That's when he truly walked away. But not having a parent stand by her is a distinction here. She was 15 and she was utterly alone. Her court mitigation expert said mothers of grown men who have brutally murdered people call and text her asking about their kid, not Jenna Oakley's.

Jenna's mother is nowhere to be found in this case. Not in court, and she's never been interviewed in print or on crime shows like Philip has. She may as well have been dead. But then, if she had come to court to testify for Jenna, she would have had to face up to the allegations of abuse that her other daughter and social workers testified about. Maybe she just couldn't do that. Maybe she just never gave a damn about Jenna.

And perhaps Philip didn't know his daughter as well as he thought he did. Every other weekend isn't the same as 24-7 when it comes to raising a child. And he lived in a different state than his kids. He couldn't always be there for birthday parties, ball games, or school plays the way other parents with partial custody can. Please know that I am not blaming or judging him for that.

Custody arrangements are complicated, even in 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 other witnesses said it was, how did Phillip not see it? Neighbors saw flea bites and neglect. He said she was a normal, happy little girl, a loving, sweet daughter, until she was involved with Kenny.

but he still never dreamed she would viciously kill her stepmom, the only real mother she ever seemingly had. Philip loved his daughter. He then openly, publicly said he hated her. He was very vocal about that. He has since softened some and doesn't use the word hate, but he still won't consider forgiveness.

I believe the people who testified about Jenna's abusive childhood. And I also believe that the Oakleys did not abuse, neglect, or otherwise mistreat her. But that doesn't mean that her emotional growth was not already stunted by her mother and early 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 Romeo and Juliet laws. They really were a factor in this case. But I dug much further into them before I even realized that Kenneth Nye died of suicide. I had skimmed the case that Gemma sent me and then dug in, thinking I would be discussing his sentencing at the end.

I didn't realize I would just be talking about Jenna Oakley walking out of prison at the age of 30, maybe even younger, still able to have a full adult life, get married, have a family, and enjoy the grandchildren that Rhonda lost. While I do believe that Jenna's confession was true, that she was really the killer, I also believe she would have done anything to save Kenny.

And he certainly tried to pay the ultimate price for her freedom. I just don't believe Jenna would have given a full confession if she had known about his suicide. But this isn't Shakespeare. The story isn't a romantic tragedy. It's just a tragedy. A senseless, stupid tragedy that ruined as many lives as it took.

Southern Fried True Crime is hosted and produced by me, Erica Kelly. Today's episode was researched and written by me and Gemma Harris. As usual, any editorial comments and opinions are my own. Southern Fried's original music is by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio and the original graphic artist by Coley Horner. Today's episode was edited and mixed by Brandon Sheck-Snyder of Southern Gothic and Erica Kelly. If you have any case suggestions, please go to my website, southernfriedtruecrime.com and click on the Listener Suggestion tab.

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