Trial begins in Logan County child drowning case

RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. – A criminal trial in the drowning death of a two-year-old girl in Logan County began Monday.

Lindsey Dover, 31, of Russellville, is charged with second-degree manslaughter following the drowning death of a child she was babysitting on July 10, 2024.

Dover was indicted on November 1, 2024.

The indictment states Dover failed to supervise the child, resulting in her drowning death.

Dover entered a not guilty plea.

The jury selection process began at 9:00 a.m., with Judge Joe Hendricks, Jr., presiding.

7th Circuit Commonwealth’s Attorney Neil Kerr and Dover’s attorney, John Caudill, spoke to the potential jurors in the morning and early afternoon.

The jury was finalized at 2 pm and comprises 8 women and 6 men.

In the Commonwealth’s opening statement, Kerr alleges that Dover failed to supervise the child while on a 43-minute phone call with her mother. Dover allegedly told police she was on a phone call with her son’s doctor.

Kerr says Dover told law enforcement that her son told her the child was missing.

Dover and the other children she babysat began to search for the child.

Kerr says Dover called 911 twelve minutes after the search started.

In his opening statement, Caudill told the jury that the Commonwealth and law enforcement have not provided an answer to how the child victim exited the home. He says law enforcement did not interview the children inside Dover’s home.

Caudill says Dover believed the child to be safe inside the home while she was on a phone call on her front porch. Caudill says one of the other children in the house let the child out, thinking Dover would see the child.

The child, who Caudill says let the two-year-old victim out, will testify in the trial.

The first witness in the case is Mackenzie Osborne, a dispatcher employed by Logan County Emergency Management at the time of the incident.

A recording of the 911 call Dover placed on July 10, 2024, was played twice in the courtroom.

Osborne confirmed the 911 call Dover placed on July 10, 2024.

In the recording, Dover said the child “wandered off” while she was on a phone call with her son’s doctor. Dover told Osborn that she last saw the child fifteen minutes before placing the phone call to 911.

Caudill did not cross-examine Osbourne.

The Commonwealth’s next witness is Detective Nichole Bibb, of the Russellville Police Department.

Bibb says she received a dispatch to Dover’s home on Pleasant Drive in Russellville to assist the Logan County Sheriff’s Office in locating a missing child.

Bibb says she went inside Dover’s home and then walked next door and observed cameras fixed on a neighbor’s home. Bibb says she spoke with the homeowner through the doorbell camera. The neighbor told Bibb she observed video from the cameras that showed the child walking into the cornfield behind the homes. Kerr says the neighbor did not back up the video footage from the day of the incident.

Bibb says she advised units and then walked into the cornfield. She said she located a ball a few feet into the field.

After exiting the cornfield, Det. Bibb said she observed a man waving to her two houses down the drive. She says she ran to the man who was pointing down at a koi pond, where the child was discovered unresponsive.

Bibb pulled the child out of the koi pond and began administering CPR.

During cross-examination, Caudill asked Bibb if she had investigated cases involving child deaths. Bibb stated she has. Caudill then asked Bibb if she had interviewed the other children in Dover’s home. Bibb said no.

The final witness to take the stand on Monday is Logan County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Ashley Grayson.

Body camera footage from the response to the incident was shown in the courtroom.

The video shows Grayson running to a grassy area near a house where Det. Bibb was administering CPR to the child.

Grayson, along with several first responders, began life-saving procedures on the child.

Grayson told the courtroom that the water level was at the child’s lips. The video shows the child being placed on its side. Grayson told the court this was done to “get water out.”

The defense did not have questions for Dep. Grayson.

Day one of the jury trial concluded at 4 pm.

The trial will resume at 9 am on Tuesday at the Logan County Courthouse.