A Trigg County grand jury will hear the murder, kidnapping and arson charges against 42-year old Jonathan McCoy of Gracey following a preliminary hearing Tuesday morning in district court.
McCoy allegedly tied 81-year old Thelma “Ileen” Barnett’s hands behind her back and then strangled her to death at her home on Will Jackson Road on September 14. KSP says he returned that night and set her home on fire with her body still inside.
Kentucky State Police Detective Brian Hill testified Tuesday that McCoy became a suspect when Lyon County Sheriff Brent White was investigating him as a suspect in a theft and arson there and obtained a search warrant on his cell phone.
The phone pinged multiple times that day in the area of Barnett’s home, though McCoy would later deny he was in Trigg County on September 14 during a KSP interview.
Detective Hill says a female witness told KSP she had planned to break into a different home in the same area of Trigg County with McCoy September 14, but changed her mind and walked away. McCoy reportedly encountered her again later and told her he had “killed an old lady.”
KSP was able to determine McCoy went to a Hopkinsville Walmart that evening and purchased a gas can and gasoline. He reportedly told the female witness he returned and burned the house down to destroy his sunglasses that he left behind.
Trigg District Judge Jamus Redd determined there was probable cause to forward all of the charges on for consideration by a Trigg County grand jury.
McCoy is charged with murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, arson and abuse of a corpse.
He is represented by Shannon Powers and Mike Crider of the public advocacy office.
Listen to the entire hearing below: