The “new information” that led Kentucky police to the body of 10-year-old Jayden Spicer this week came from the boy’s mother, who has now been charged with manslaughter in the child’s death.
Felicia Gross, 33, admitted her role in her son’s death in a Mirandized interview after police had been searching for the boy for nearly a week after she reported him missing, according to an arrest report obtained by Law&Crime.
“[S]he confessed to providing Jayden a type of sleeping medication,” the citation says. “Ms. Gross further stated that this medication caused Jayden to have a medical emergency and she believed that he had passed away from this medical emergency.”
Gross reported Jayden missing on August 6, saying she and her husband had gone to bed the night before and the boy was missing when they got up the next morning, as CrimeOnline reported. She ran sobbing to a neighbors to use the phone and call police, and the next day provided a handwritten letter to media asking for prayers and help finding the missing child.
But Jayden was dead and buried by that time in a shallow grave 20 miles from his home, where he was found Tuesday afternoon.
“Ms. Gross further stated in the interview that she had transported Jaydens body to a wooded area on Canoe Road near the mouth of Joe Little Fork,” the arrest citation reveals. “A search warrant was prepared and executed on this property and Jayden’s remains were located buried underground in a plastic tote.”
Further, the citation says, Gross coached her other children to lie about their brother’s death.
“Two of Jayden’s siblings were interviewed at the Care Cottage in Hazard several days prior to this confession,” the citation says. “Ms. Gross admitted to ‘coaching’ the siblings into what to say during the interview.”
Gross is being held at the Kentucky River Regional Jail, charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, tampering with a witness, and falsely reporting an incident, along with the manslaughter charge. Authorities are awaiting results of an autopsy to determine Jayden’s cause of death.
