A Kentucky dentist and his son are facing criminal charges after an employee of their family-owned restaurant was found stabbed to death in the dentist's home.
Now the woman's family is searching for answers.
Amber Spradlin, 39, was found dead on June 18, 2023, on a couch in the Prestonsburg home of dentist Michael McKinney II, 56, with multiple stab wounds to the head and neck.
McKinney II and another man, 23-year-old Josh Mullins, have pleaded not guilty to charges of tampering with evidence at the scene of her death. The Kentucky dentist was released on $250,000 bail, court records show.
The dentist's son, Michael McKinney III, 24, was also arrested July 30 and charged with murder and multiple counts of tampering with evidence. He is being held on $5 million bail, according to court records.
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Amber Spradlin, 39, was stabbed to death on June 18, 2023 in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. (Amber Spradlin on Facebook)
The three were indicted on Aug. 14 on an additional charge of tampering with evidence, according to court documents.
An attorney for the McKinneys could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prosecutors allege that after Spradlin was killed, McKinney and Mullins destroyed her bloody clothing, the handle of the knife used in the murder and security cameras that would have captured the woman's murder.
The indictment also alleges that the three men placed a knife on the couch where Spradlin was stabbed and “indicated it was the murder weapon.”
Meanwhile, Spradlin's family has filed a civil lawsuit against the county, the city of Prestonsburg, the city police, McKinney and his son Mullins, Seasons Inn Motel & Restaurant and numerous other businesses.
The lawsuit accuses police of negligence and obstruction of justice, alleging that Spradlin's death could have been prevented if a safety check had been made after two calls to emergency services. It also accuses Prestonsburg Police Department 911 dispatchers of inadequate training and claims that Spradlin's murder was not reported “until efforts were made to cover up the crime.”
The circumstances surrounding Spradlin's death are still unclear, and authorities have not yet released a possible motive. NBC News Reported.
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Amber Spradlin had been working as a hostess at a restaurant owned by the McKinney family the night before she was found dead in the home of Michael McKinney II. (Amber Spradlin on Facebook)
A few weeks before Spradlin's death, her cousin told NBC she had started working as a hostess at a restaurant owned by the McKinney family. Debbie Hall last spoke to her cousin the day before her death, she told the station.
Hall texted Spradlin at 11:30 p.m. on June 17, asking if the restaurant hostesses had returned home safely from work. Spradlin replied, “Still working,” and Hall said, “Have a safe trip home,” NBC reported.
According to the family's lawsuit, Spradlin picked up the McKinneys from another restaurant after work and went to McKinney's home after McKinney had been drinking heavily with another man who is also sued in a wrongful death lawsuit, but who has not been charged criminally.
Floyd County Judge Robbie Williams told NBC News that a 911 call came from the dentist's home sometime between 5:00 and 5:30 the following morning.
Williams told the outlet that during the call, a person believed to be McKinney III called for emergency help, but another person answered the phone and said no emergency response was needed.
According to the family's lawsuit, the caller had requested help removing an unidentified, intoxicated man from the home. When the dispatcher told them authorities could only do so if the man was having a medical emergency or was a danger to himself or others, the caller alleged the man had fallen and suffered cuts.
Prestonsburg's current police chief, Ross Shuttoff, told NBC that another man answered the phone and said, “I've got some minor cuts, but I'm OK.”
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Amber Spradlin's family has filed a civil lawsuit against the Prestonsburg Police Department, the department's former police chief, the city of Prestonsburg, the city's former mayor, and numerous other plaintiffs. (Amber Spradlin on Facebook)
The second call, according to the lawsuit, was made by the McKinneys to Prestonsburg Police Chief Randy Woods later that afternoon, an attempt to obscure the investigation, the lawyers wrote, and that Spradlin might have survived if the former chief had taken “prompt corrective action.”
About five hours after the initial 911 call, and after calling the former chief, McKinney II called 911 again, according to the lawsuit, which Williams confirmed to NBC, at which point police finally arrived on the scene and found Spradlin deceased.
Woods resigned from the police force days after Spradlin's murder after two years on the force. YMT TVHe maintained that the decision was unrelated to Spradlin's death and was a response to the shooting that left three officers dead.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Woods or the Prestonsburg Police Department for comment but was unable to get in touch.
Spradlin's family continues to speak out about the murder more than a year after it happened. A Facebook group they started to raise awareness of her case has tens of thousands of followers, and they have posted signs around Prestonsburg, population 4,000, with the slain woman's face and the words simply “Justice for Amber” written on it.
