The woman charged in connection with the September 16, 2020 murder of Thelma “Ileen” e Barnett at her home on Will Jackson Road in Trigg County was arraigned in Trigg Circuit Court Wednesday.
Keisha Stewart is charged with complicity to second-degree arson, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and more, as read by Trigg Circuit Judge C.A. Woody Woodall, who also accepted her plea of not guilty.
Judge Woodall set a pretrial hearing for June 9—Stewart already has a felony auto theft case ongoing in Trigg Circuit Court. Stewart is a co-defendant of James McCoy, who is charged with murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, arson and abuse of a corpse.
As previously reported, an arrest warrant from Kentucky State Police says McCoy tied Barnett’s arms behind her back, strangled her to death and then set her home on fire with her body still inside. Kentucky State Police executed a search warrant at the home of Stewart in March and that investigation resulted in the charges against her in relation to the case.