WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. (LEX 18) — Brittany Slaughter and Adam Hayes appeared in Whitley County district court for arraignments Monday. They're charged with the murder of 4-year-old Chloe Darnell, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with physical evidence. Hayes is facing additional charges of trafficking a controlled substance, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of marijuana.
Both entered not guilty pleas. Friday, Whitley County Sheriff Bill Elliotte spoke about how the investigation began.
He shares, "The investigation began earlier in the week. It started out as basically a welfare check on the child because family members where they hadn't actually seen this child in quite some time. One of my officers began following up on that and things just started not adding up."
Chloe was found buried in a shallow grave in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Sheriff Elliotte explains that Slaughter is not Chloe’s mother but is related to her, and she had custody of her. Hayes is Slaughter’s boyfriend.
Sheriff Elliotte says, "There's nothing that could be more tragic, in my mind, than the death of this child, the senseless death of this child, you know?"
The sheriff says Chloe’s family believes the last time any family member saw her was in September.
He explains, "From what I understand every time they would ask where Chloe was, she was here, or she was there. And so, it went on an extended...kinda like the Casey Anthony we had in Florida several years ago where it was the mother kept making excuses for where the child was at before the family finally reported it."
Slaughter and Hayes were each being held on $500,000 cash bonds. Hayes has a $35,000 cash bond for his additional charges. Now, the two are scheduled to have a preliminary hearing on November 27 at 9:00 a.m. The family shared with LEX 18 that they are still grieving and working to plan a memorial in Chloe’s honor.
