3 people charged in Amber Spradlin’s death, but family says police at fault, too

She was found dead more than a year ago, in the large home of a well-known eastern Kentucky dentist.

Roughly 13 months later, on July 30, the dentist and his son — Michael McKinney II and Michael McKinney III — were arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of Amber Spradlin, 39. The circumstances surrounding her killing remain unclear and have cast what a local official described as a “cloud” over the community where she lived.

Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive in the alleged crime and they’ve released few details about Spradlin’s killing. But her family has sought to raise the case’s profile, launching a Facebook group that now has tens of thousands of followers and placing massive billboards around Prestonsburg, Kentucky, population nearly 4,000, with a simple message: “Justice for Amber.”

They blame law enforcement officials for failing to protect Spradlin. A phone call made from McKinney’s home in the hours before Spradlin was found dead on the morning of June 18 is at the heart of a lawsuit her family filed earlier this year accusing law enforcement of negligence, obstruction of justice and other allegations.

The call, to a newly established 911 dispatch center, should have prompted an emergency response to the dentist’s home, the suit alleges. And an alleged call made later that morning aimed to cover up the killing, according to the lawsuit. The suit identifies the call’s recipient as the man who at the time led the Prestonsburg Police Department.

A third phone call, also made to the 911 center from the McKinney home on the morning of June 18, 2023, was described by Floyd County Judge-Executive Robbie Williams as “chilling.”

The suit, filed June 4 in Floyd County Circuit Court, names more than a dozen defendants, including Williams, who helped oversee the development of the new dispatch center, and the former police chief, Randy Woods.

Woods did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment. In a court filing, a lawyer for Woods denied the allegations in the family’s lawsuit. Williams defended law enforcement’s response.

“Prestonsburg has the most up-to-date center in eastern Kentucky,” he said in an interview. “It would have made no difference if KSP” — Kentucky State Police — “answered the call.”

Michael McKinney II, 56, was indicted in July on seven counts of complicity to tampering with physical evidence in Spradlin’s deadly stabbing, a copy of the indictment shows. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $250,000 cash bail, court records show. Neither he nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment.

His 24-year-old son was indicted on charges of murder and multiple counts of tampering and is being held in lieu of $5 million bail, court records show. McKinney III pleaded not guilty. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

A third suspect, Josh Mullins, 23, was also indicted on multiple counts of tampering and pleaded not guilty. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

On Aug. 14, each of the defendants was indicted on an additional count of tampering, a superseding indictment shows.

New on the job

Debbie Hall, Spradlin’s cousin and close friend who is the family’s spokesperson, described Spradlin as someone who cared deeply about family and friends. In the weeks before her death, Hall said, Spradlin had started working as a host at a restaurant owned by the McKinney family.

According to Hall, 56, although her cousin had just started working for the family’s restaurant, she didn’t know the people now charged in connection with her death.

McKinney II is a well-known dentist in Prestonsburg, Williams said. The website for his practice, Floyd County Smiles, describes him as a member of several state and national dental associations and says he has been practicing locally for three decades.

On July 31, the day after the arrests in Spradlin’s case were announced, the Kentucky Board of Dentistry temporarily suspended his license and said it was investigating his competency to practice.

Last week, the judge overseeing the criminal case ruled that McKinney II could train another dentist while awaiting trial to “save” his business, NBC affiliate WLEX-TV of Lexington reported.

The last time Hall said she was in touch with Spradlin was June 17, when she sent her cousin a text at 11:30 p.m. asking if she’d left her new hosting job and gotten home safely. Spradlin texted back that she was still working, Hall recalled.

“Be careful going home,” Hall said she told her cousin.

The next day, Spradlin was pronounced dead at a home south of Prestonsburg after being repeatedly stabbed, according to the indictment and a news release from the Kentucky State Police, which investigated the death.

State police have not provided additional details about the killing, and a spokesman for the agency said he would not release additional information.

A call to 911 

After Spradlin’s shift, she accompanied the McKinneys from another restaurant to the elder McKinney’s home south of Prestonsburg, according to the lawsuit. Before they left, the younger McKinney had been drinking heavily with a person accused of wrongful death in the suit, the document says.

Hall identified the person, Roy Kidd, as an old friend of her cousin’s. Kidd has not been charged with any crimes and could not be reached for comment. His lawyer would not comment on the criminal case or civil suit.

Between 5 and 5:30 a.m. the next morning, a 911 call was placed from the home, according to Williams, the county executive. Williams told NBC News that he listened to a recording of the call but declined further comment because of an ongoing criminal investigation and civil litigation.

According to the lawsuit, a person believed to be McKinney III made the call and sought help for an emergency.

During the call, a person who appeared to be his father got on the phone and said no emergency response was necessary, the lawsuit says, adding that even though the call should have prompted a wellness check, no one from the police department went to the home or followed up with the caller.

The suit accuses the Prestonsburg Police Department, which operates the 911 call center, of failing to properly train call takers.

In an interview, Prestonsburg’s current Police Chief Ross Shurtleff defended the center, citing record-low response times and saying the facility is working better than ever.

In the 911 call from the McKinney home described in the lawsuit, Shurtleff said, the caller initially wanted help removing an unidentified drunk man from the house. After the dispatcher said authorities couldn’t do that unless the person was violent, threatening or having a medical emergency, the caller said the person had a cut from falling, the police chief said.

Immediately after that, Shurtleff said, the homeowner got on the phone and said the injury wasn’t life-threatening.

“He’s got a small cut, everything is fine here,” Shurtleff said the caller told the dispatcher.

The call, Shurtleff added, was not for someone in need of emergency medical attention.

But according to Hall, Spradlin’s cousin, she said she listened to the audio and the initial description of the injury appeared more ominous. A caller asked authorities to come get the man because he was bleeding heavily, she recalled.

Williams, the county executive, confirmed that he let Hall, who is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit, listen to the recording. NBC News filed a request for audio of the 911 call with the Kentucky State Police, which has not provided the recording. A spokesman for the agency did not respond to a request for the audio.

Williams said he is lobbying for the release of the recording and believes it will exonerate the call center.

“There’s a cloud hanging over our community,” he said. “Our folks need to have confidence in their EMS and first responders.”

A second, ‘chilling’ call

At some point that morning, McKinney II dialed Woods, Prestonsburg’s then-police chief, the lawsuit says.

The suit doesn’t describe what may have been said or when the call was placed, but it accuses McKinney II of dialing the chief in an effort to obfuscate a potential investigation. Spradlin may have survived had the former chief taken “prompt remedial action,” the suit alleges.

Woods’ resignation was announced days after the killing. In a statement published by a local CBS affiliate, he appeared to attribute his decision to step down to a shooting that left three local law enforcement officers dead, including two from his department.

Roughly five hours after the first call to the emergency dispatch center, McKinney II dialed 911 from his home, according to Williams, who also listened to the call. He described the conversation that followed as “chilling” but declined further comment on what was said, citing the lawsuit and the criminal investigation.

The lawsuit alleges that the second 911 call was made after McKinney II dialed Woods, the former chief, but it does not provide additional details.

Prosecutors allege that after Spradlin’s killing, the McKinneys and Mullins destroyed evidence, including bloody clothing, the handle of the knife used in the slaying and a surveillance camera and recording equipment that would have captured the murder, according to the indictment.

The indictment also accuses the defendants of planting a knife in the couch where Spradlin was fatally stabbed in an effort to “suggest it was the murder weapon.”