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Last updated on Monday, March 28, 2016
(OWEN CO.) - The probable cause affidavit in the case of the death of 1-year-old Shaylyn Ammerman is disturbing.
The details may be upsetting to some readers.
In court documents, investigators say Kyle Parker visited Shaylyn Ammerman's Spencer home on March 22, 2016, the night before she disappeared. Shaylyn's grandmother put her to bed in a crib at around 10 p.m.
Shaylyn's father, Justin, said his brother Adam invited him to drink alcohol with him and Parker at around 11 pm, but Justin Ammerman declined and went to bed.
When Justin, Shaylyn's father, woke up the next morning around 8:30 am, Shaylyn was missing from her crib. Her pacifier and blanket were also missing. When he couldn't find her anywhere in the house, he called 911. Adam Ammerman, Justin's brother searched the yard but could not find her. Justin Ammerman told police there were no signs of any struggle.
Adam Ammerman told police that he saw Kyle Parker leaving the house between 3 and 4 am. Adam saw that Parker was carrying something. Adam told investigators he yelled to say good-bye to Parker, but Parker would not turn around. Adam said he thought he saw a foot dangling from Parker's side but wasn't sure. He went back to bed at that point.
Adam Ammerman also told police that his mother walked into the house one day and found Kyle Parker sitting in a rocking chair drunk, holding Shaylyn in his lap. He told police Kyle liked to watch pornographic movies which featured people being spanked. Police interviewed some of Kyle Parker's other friends, who said he liked pornographic videos with sadistic and masochistic themes, and that Kyle Parker was attracted to younger girls 12 to 14 years old, something Parker denied when he was being questioned by police later.
Police learned that Parker had made arrangements to pick up a relative's child on the morning of March 23, 2016, but never showed up. Parker later said he was running behind that morning and did not have his phone to call and let the child's mother know. They contacted Parker's stepfather, who helped locate Parker and brought him to the Spencer Police Department for questioning.
Conflicting stories
Parker's friends say when he arrived at their Gosport home on the morning of the 23rd, he pulled into the garage and closed the garage door, something he never did. They also told police that while Parker is usually talkative, he was quiet and distant that morning. They told police when he got to their home, he started washing his clothes. Parker later told police he was washing his friends' clothes as a favor, not his own.
When questioned by police, Parker says he had been drinking alcohol with Adam Ammerman and others at the W. Jefferson St. home on the night of the 22nd. He told relatives he would be staying overnight at Adam Ammerman's home, but later told police he'd changed his mind and didn't feel like staying over.
Parker denied his friends' account that he arrived at their home around 5 or 5:30 am. He says they had just woken up and did not have time to judge his behavior. Parker also denied that he was carrying anything when he left the home, and that he turned around and waved goodbye to Adam Ammerman when he left the W. Jefferson St. home.
When the investigator asked Parker how he got numerous scratches on his forearms and hands, Parker told police his cats scratched him. The investigator say they looked like fresh wounds.
Investigators spoke to Parker's stepfather, Mike Patton, and told him they believed Parker knew something about Shaylyn's disappearance, but wasn't cooperating. His stepfather told police he'd try to persuade Parker to do the right thing. A few hours later, Patton called police to say Parker was ready to talk.
Police learned that Parker's car had recently been cleaned and that he tried to throw away items from his car. Investigators found those items in the garage at the Gosport home.
Parker at first would only nod his head up and down when asked if he was involved in Shaylyn's disappearance. The detective pleaded with Parker to provide information so the family could have closure. At first Parker refused, but later showed investigators where they would find Shaylyn's body.
Parker implicated Adam Ammerman in Shaylyn's disappearance at first, but police told Parker that Ammerman passed a polygraph test. Investigators told Parker his description of how Shaylyn's body was left in the woods didn't add up. Parker says Adam Ammerman rolled her body down an incline. Police told Parker they found her naked body placed neatly next to a tree. They also found a burn pile near the body that may contain Shaylyn's clothes and other evidence.
Parker's denial and confession
Investigators say Parker's stepfather told him that Shaylyn was missing on the way to the police department. He told police Parker started to cry and kept saying he had nothing to do with it. He also says he wasn't carrying anything when he left the W. Jefferson St. house. He made that statement well before police had spoken to Adam Ammerman and got his account that Ammerman had seen Parker carrying something.
Parker also told his stepfather that he wasn't going to prison for the rest of his life and that he would commit suicide. His stepfather told police that he felt Parker would kill himself if he was allowed to go home.
Patton, Parker's stepfather, told investigators Parker admitted to taking Shaylyn from her crib that night. Parker told his stepfather Shaylyn was alive and dressed when he took her from the home. He also allegedly told his stepfather that the night was a "haze" and that his memory was "foggy" on what happened.
As Parker drove towards Gosport, he pulled over along the way and raped Shaylyn in the front seat of his vehicle, and that the child was alive when he raped her. Parker then allegedly murdered Shaylyn by smothering her with some cloth he already had in his vehicle.
After Parker had killed the girl, he drove to the location where police would eventually find her body. Parker told his stepfather that he tried to clean up evidence of the crime. Parker says he used bleach to wipe down the girl's body as well as his own. He also says he poured bleach inside her vaginal and anal cavities. Parker said he wanted to create "reasonable doubt" by using the bleach to destroy DNA evidence.
Parker told his stepfather he burned Shaylyn's clothing and pacifier at the wooded location where she was found.
Autopsy
Dr. Donna Stewart with the Kentucky Medical Examiner's Office in Louisville performed the autopsy on Shaylyn's body and called it the worst case of sexual trauma she'd seen in her career. She found multiple injuries on Shaylyn's face and all over her body, including to her vaginal and anal areas. Dr. Stewart said the severe trauma occurred when Shaylyn was still alive. She also said injuries to her nose and mouth were consistent with someone smothering her, and injuries to her throat were consistent with being strangled.
Where Shaylyn was found
The area is mostly-hidden and a secluded place, down a private dirt and gravel lane, created years ago when a new railroad track was built on higher ground and the old one was torn out. The area is all but hidden from the distant county road. The embankment is so close to the lane and so steep, you have to get out of your car to see the bottom.
Shaylyn was placed in the brush at the bottom of the embankment on the edge of the farm field, according to investigators.
Parker is the only person charged in connection with her murder so far.
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