Kentucky couple charged in baby's death after year-long investigation

Two individuals have been indicted in Kentucky in the death of an infant following a year-long investigation. Pro-abortion activists are using the arrest to argue in favor of abortion on demand.

Key Takeaways:

• Deeann Bennett and Charles Bennett were arrested on February 9 and charged with reckless homicide, along with other charges.

• On November 29, 2024, Deeann was brought to the hospital claiming she had a miscarriage. The couple told officials the baby was still at their home.

• Police were called and when they went to the couple's home to investigate, they found the baby outside the home and over an embankment.

• After 14 months of investigating the situation, police arrested the Bennetts this week.

• Pro-abortion influencers are claiming the child was not an "infant" as reports state but was a "fetus," and they argue the couple was merely 'disposing of pregnancy remains' and that there is 'no correct way' to dispose of those remains.

• No details have been released regarding the baby's cause of death; however, the coroner reported that the baby died at the scene.

The Details:

Deeann Bennett, 27, and Charles Bennett, 32, were arrested on Monday, February 9. Both were charged with reckless homicide and concealing the death of an infant, and Deeann was also charged with tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse. Both are being held in custody at the Three Forks Jail without bond.

The arrests were in relation to an event that took place on November 29, 2024, more than 14 months ago, in which Kentucky State Troopers received a 911 call about a woman who had been transported to a hospital reporting a possible miscarriage.

Two charged in connection to infant's death

According to a news release from the Kentucky State Police that day:

"[J]ust before 10:30 A.M, Kentucky State Police, Post 7, Richmond, received a 911 call in reference to a female who had been transported to a local hospital reporting a possible miscarriage. While at the hospital, the couple advised the infant was still at the residence on Lewis Lane in Booneville. Troopers, along with detectives responded to the residence.

During the preliminary investigation Troopers and Detectives located an unresponsive infant over an embankment outside of the residence. The Owsley County Coroner, Rob Morgan pronounced the infant deceased and was transported to the Medial Examiners Office in Frankfort for an autopsy."

According to Google Maps, Lewis Lane is a dead-end road that backs up to the South Fork Kentucky River.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, "The Owsley County coroner said the baby died at the scene and was transported to Frankfort for an autopsy."

No details about the baby's age or cause of death have been released at this time.

On February 10, 2026, Kentucky State Police issued another news release, stating that following "a year-long investigation," Deeann and Charles Bennett were taken into custody.

Commentary:

Police spent a full year investigating after finding the baby "over an embankment" and deceased. What they learned over the course of that year clearly led them to believe the Bennetts needed to be arrested.

Yet, "Abortion, Every Day" bloggers Jessica Valenti and Kylie Cheung responded to the story by suggesting that a baby found over an embankment had legitimately been miscarried because there is "no 'correct' way to dispose of a pregnancy remains," and therefore, the couple should never have been investigated or arrested.

Despite the limited available information, Valenti paints a very different picture than the police who investigated the case. She complains that "police confronted the pair while they were still at the hospital in the midst of a medical trauma." This is not uncommon. Sometimes a medical trauma requires the presence of police, especially if one of the persons involved in the medical trauma is unaccounted for.

As an example, Valenti pointed to the Laken Snelling case, in which the body of a newborn who had reportedly been born alive was found deceased and hidden in a garbage bag inside a closet. Snelling has stated that she heard the baby "whimper" but that she passed out on top of the baby.

Valenti was bothered by the fact that Kentucky police referred to both the Bennett baby and the Snelling baby as an "infant." She said that the county coroner told her regarding the Snelling case, "A lot of times we'll use the broad term of infant, we could be referring to a fetus."

But a born-alive newborn, no matter her gestational age, is no longer a fetus because she is outside the womb. Calling a baby outside the womb a 'fetus' is an attempt to dehumanize, but Valenti takes it a step further, referring to the Bennett baby as mere "pregnancy remains."

"Here’s what’s becoming increasingly clear: there’s no ‘correct’ way to dispose of pregnancy remains that will protect us from criminal investigation—not while abortion bans and fetal personhood laws exist," wrote Valenti and Cheung.

Yet, there are 750,000 to 1 million miscarriages of clinically recognized pregnancies every year in the U.S., which makes Valenti's claim utter nonsense.

Police didn't return to the hospital after finding a dead baby over an embankment and then immediately arrest the Bennetts. They investigated for over a year.

Valenti and Cheung went on to say, "Angela Cooper, communications director at ACLU of Kentucky, tells us anti-abortion lawmakers and activists—not content with just banning abortion—would 'fill our jails and courtrooms with grieving Kentuckians based on their pregnancy outcomes.'"

This is a manipulation. So is the fact that Valenti and Cheung conveniently left the "embankment" detail out of their reporting.

It is clearly part of a pro-abortion agenda to claim that all miscarriages will be subject to an investigation and potential arrest nearly four years after Roe v. Wade fell. More than three million miscarriages have occurred since that day, and, according to a pro-abortion report, the number of women who have allegedly been investigated for a "pregnancy outcome" remains low. The number of women investigated between June 2022 and June 2024 for "pregnancy outcomes" involving "fetal or infant demise" was 31.

Police aren't hunting down women who have miscarried to see if they are guilty of a crime. Police are investigating when a situation is suspicious, such as a baby in a garbage bag in a closet, a baby in a dumpster, a 22-week baby clogging a toilet, another baby left in a restaurant toilet, and another baby covered up in a toilet. One pro-abortion group bailed a woman out of prison after she was accused of murdering her newborn and dumping the body in an airport trash can in 2025.

The reason these pro-abortion activists don't want such deaths investigated, despite the suspicious activity surrounding them, is that these investigations make headlines and inspire sympathy for the babies involved. That sympathy could translate into compassion for preborn babies and pro-life votes.

It's shocking and horrific that pro-abortion groups and individuals are calling for no investigations when a deceased baby is found under suspicious circumstances. In order to protect abortion, they are willing to protect people who may actually be guilty of infanticide. It's only logical that if any baby is protected before or at birth, then all babies should be, which would mean that abortion — which includes live-birth abortions in which the baby is intentionally left to die — should not be legal.

Valenti and Cheung also commented on Deeann's mugshot, pointing out that she appears to be "sobbing." It's heartbreaking to see, of course, and it could signal regret, remorse, grief, and potentially even that she may not have had control over what happened to the baby.

Hopefully, the truth will all come out in court as to how the baby ended up over an embankment and why.

The Bottom Line:

Kentucky's reckless homicide law states, "A person is guilty of reckless homicide when, with recklessness he causes the death of another person." It is considered a Class D felony, and the law has been in effect since January 1, 1975.

Details have yet to be released as to why police believe the Bennetts committed reckless homicide, but based on the coroner's report that the baby died at the scene, they could have put the baby over the embankment and left him or her to die. This is a question that will be answered in court.

Valenti is correct in that there is no set way to dispose of a miscarried child. Historically, miscarried babies have often been treated as mere "pregnancy remains" (as Valenti put it); some hospitals have tossed their tiny bodies in medical waste sent to landfills.

In the Bennett case, it appears the baby may have been born alive; how that baby died will determine the outcome of the case.