Dakota Hugh Hill and Serenity Ann McKinney (Shelby County)
A 27-year-old man in Kentucky will spend several decades behind bars after admitting to killing his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter, stuffing her body in a suitcase, and discarding it in the woods. Bullitt County Circuit Court Judge Rodney D. Burress on Thursday ordered Dakota Hugh Hill to serve a sentence of 50 years in a state correctional facility for the slaying of young Serenity Ann McKinney, who was last seen alive on Christmas Eve of 2020, authorities announced.
Hill in May reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one count each of murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence in exchange for the half-century sentence.
Hill at the time was dating Serenity’s mother, Catherine Abigail McKinney, who in April pleaded guilty to one count each of manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with physical evidence. Judge Burress sentenced her to 12 years in prison, provided that she agreed to testify against Hill should his case go to trial.
Following Thursday’s hearing, Bullitt County Commonwealth Attorney Bailey Taylor said he was pleased with the amount of time Judge Burress handed down to Hill.
“50 years is a considerably long period of time and I believe under the circumstances, is appropriate,” he told Louisville ABC affiliate WHAS-TV.
The prosecutor also said that under state law, Hill would have the opportunity to be released from prison after just two decades, but emphasized that there was little chance of that actually happening.
“By law, he will come up for parole at 20 years. That’s just set in stone. The odds of him being paroled are between slim and none,” Taylor said.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Serenity’s family said she was last seen alive on Christmas Eve of 2020. Her stepmother, Aundria Wainscott, said she and Serenity’s dad last spoke to the little girl over the phone on Father’s Day in June 2021.
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Hill and McKinney, who goes by “Abby,” were initially arrested in early February 2022 and charged with custodial interference as authorities searched for young Serenity.
The search for Serenity arrived at a tragic end in February 2022, when authorities discovered her decomposing body in a wooded area in the 1300 block of Skyview Road in West Point, near the line between Jefferson and Bullitt Counties. Her body was found inside a suitcase that was also filled with a “sand-like substance,” according to WHAS.
A subsequent autopsy determined that the little girl had several fractured bones. Following the autopsy, her cause of death was undetermined, but the manner of death was deemed a homicide. Toxicology testing revealed no alcohol or drugs in her system, WHAS reported.
Prior to Judge Burress handing down the sentence, Hill read a prepared statement in which he apologized for his actions and the pain he has caused Serenity’s family.
“I think of Serenity every single day and of the time we had together, and I think of how my choices have taken that away for everyone and cut her life short,” he said in a monotoned and seemingly emotionless recitation of the statement.
But Serenity’s grandmother, Melody Roller, said she will have a difficult time ever forgiving Hill or McKinney for what they did to Serenity.
“It’s better than none, but it’s never enough,” she said of the sentence to Louisville CBS affiliate WLKY. “They could have put him in prison by himself in a locked cell and torture him and it still would never be enough for me.”
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