FLOYD COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — The family of 38-year-old Amber Spradlin are calling for answers after they say a 9-1-1 call made from the home where Spradlin was killed wasn’t dispatched to law enforcement.
The family and two attorneys helping them with the case, Dale Golden and Mark Wohlander, addressed a crowd of media and community members Thursday morning in front of the Floyd County Courthouse.
They said that they feel the recent move of 9-1-1 center operations out of the Kentucky State Police and into the hands of a city office have caused problems.
The family said that the night before Spradlin’s body was found, she had been hanging out with a group of people that she knew, and that the group had eventually ended up at the home of a prominent dentist in town.
The family believes that a 9-1-1 call was made that night from the home, and that the call wasn’t dispatched to law enforcement. Spradlin was found dead the following morning.
At this point no information has been released about who made the 9-1-1 call, when during the night the call was made, or what the nature of the call was.
But Spradlin’s family thinks that if someone had been dispatched to the home that night, things could have ended differently.
“I just don't know what in the world would have gone so wrong that would result in what happened,” said Dr. Debbie Hall, Spradlin’s cousin. “But there was a 9-1-1 call and no one went.”
Hall described the brutal stabbing that killed Spradlin in detail, saying that her cousin was stabbed 11 times in her head and neck area, and that her throat was slit.
“I can just imagine her screaming and trying to fight back,” Hall said. “She was 4-foot-11, she had no defense.”
During the press conference Thursday, Golden asked that anyone who has information about Spradlin’s stabbing, the 9-1-1 center issues or the process that led to the switch from the original center to the current in-house center reach out to him.
No arrests have been made in connection with Spradlin’s death, and the investigation is ongoing.
“There's a monster out there and people who know things about this and they don't want to tell, well they're a monster too,” Hall said. “She had a heart of gold and they have stolen a light from our family, and our lives will never be the same again.”
