Joshua Cottrell had a prior manslaughter conviction before admitting he killed Kayla Blake and Kennedi McWhorter.
MOREHEAD, Ky. — A Kentucky man with a prior manslaughter conviction admitted killing his girlfriend and her 13-year-old daughter, receiving life without parole in a Rowan County case that drew attention across the state.
Joshua Cottrell, 44, pleaded guilty April 28 to two counts of murder and one count of tampering with physical evidence. The charges came from the deaths of Kayla Danielle Blake, 37, and Kennedi Grace McWhorter, 13, who were found dead Sept. 19, 2025, inside their home on South Spring Street in Morehead. The sentence guarantees Cottrell will not be released on parole for those murders. It also marked his second conviction connected to a killing, after an earlier manslaughter case from his 20s.
The earlier case returned to public view after Cottrell was arrested in the Morehead killings. He was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the death of Richie Phillips, 36, whose body was found in Rough River Lake after being placed in a suitcase. Cottrell had been charged with murder in that case but was convicted of the lesser homicide charge. He also was convicted of theft by unlawful taking and tampering with physical evidence. A jury heard his claim that he acted in self-defense after unwanted sexual advances, and he received a 20-year prison sentence.
The Morehead case was separate in time, place and victims, but it included another evidence tampering charge. Authorities said Cottrell moved the bodies of Blake and Kennedi after the killings, altering evidence that could have been used in court. He admitted that charge when he changed his plea. Court records described Blake as having been stabbed in the head in a bedroom and also suffering blunt force trauma. Kennedi was found across the hall with her throat cut. Investigators have not announced a motive, and the guilty plea ended the case without a public trial.
Police were called to the home after Blake missed work and a co-worker went to check on her. The call for a welfare check came Friday morning, and deputies found the mother and daughter dead inside. The Rowan County Coroner’s Office said first responders found two obvious deceased individuals. The case then moved from a local welfare check to a state police homicide investigation. Authorities identified Cottrell as the suspect within hours, saying he had left the Morehead area before officers arrived at the home.
Cottrell was found the same day in western Kentucky. State police arrested him at a hospital in the Paducah area, more than 300 miles from Morehead. Authorities said he had blood on his clothing when he was located. The distance between the crime scene and the arrest site became one of the first facts released about the investigation. Cottrell was initially jailed in McCracken County before the case proceeded through Rowan County. He first entered a not guilty plea, then returned to court months later to admit the charges.
Blake and Cottrell were described in local reports as being in a relationship, and reports said they lived together. Friends and co-workers remembered Blake as a nurse who cared for people in addiction treatment and often helped beyond her scheduled work. Kennedi was remembered as a student, church member and softball player who competed on school and travel teams. Those accounts put the legal case beside the loss felt in a workplace, school circles, church life and youth sports.
The plea also changed what the public will know about the case. Without a trial, prosecutors did not present a full witness list, forensic timeline or detailed account of how the evidence was gathered. The record shows that neighbors placed Cottrell at the home the day before the bodies were found and that he was located later with blood on his clothing. It also shows the charges he admitted and the sentence imposed. It does not show a stated motive or a full courtroom reconstruction of the final hours inside the home.
For relatives and friends, the plea avoided a trial but did not soften the anger around the killings. Lona Kiser, a friend of Blake, said Cottrell should be thankful the family did not have to watch the evidence unfold in court. She said he was “begging for his life just like they were” as the case moved to sentencing. Her statement reflected the lasting harm of the attack and the emotional weight that a trial could have placed on the victims’ relatives.
The sentence leaves Cottrell in prison for life without the possibility of parole on the murder counts. The five-year sentence for tampering with physical evidence is part of the same case and does not create a route to release. The Rowan County judgment now stands as the final criminal result unless Cottrell files a later challenge. As of May 22, the court record reflects guilty pleas, a life sentence and no announced motive in the deaths of Blake and Kennedi.
Author note: Last updated May 22, 2026.