Mother of 2-year-old drowning victim takes stand in day two of manslaughter trial in Logan County

RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. – The criminal trial of Lindsey Dover, a babysitter charged with manslaughter in the drowning death of a 2-year-old girl, continued Tuesday.

Day two of the trial began with the testimony of Dr. Emily Dennison, Medical Examiner Assistant with the Davidson County Medical Examiner’s Office.

7th Circuit Commonwealth’s Attorney Neil Kerr asked Dr. Dennison for the final determinations made by the office.

Dr. Dennison testified that the cause of death of the child was ruled as drowning, and the manner of death was accidental.

Dr. Dennison says the Davidson County Medical Examiner’s Office does not make legal decisions.

The jury was shown a photo of the body of the 2-year-old girl when the medical examiner’s office received her.

Dover’s attorney, John Caudill, had no further questions for Dr. Dennison.

Next, Sergeant Jason Brent, of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, took the stand.

Brent testified that he was on a training shift with Deputy Elijah West on July 10, 2024, when dispatch contacted them to respond to 102 Pleasant Drive regarding a missing child.

Brent says they met with Lindsey Dover in her driveway and asked her when she had last seen the child.

Following the interaction with Dover, Brent and West walked to the backyard of Dover’s home and began searching for the child.

Brent and West were shown a ball found in a cornfield by Detective Nichole Bibb of the Russellville Police Department.

Brent’s body camera footage shows him entering the corn field between 102 and 105 Pleasant Drive and calling out the child’s name in an attempt to locate her.

Brent and West received communication that the child was found unresponsive at a home on Creekwood Drive after being retrieved from a koi pond in the backyard.

Caudill objected to the use of audio of the presented video evidence

Caudill and Kerr met with presiding Judge Joe Hendricks, who ruled that further audio from video evidence not be permitted.

Brent said he and West went to the Medical Center at Russellville after the child was transported by ambulance.

At the hospital, they met with the child’s mother, Kaitlin Hightower, before the child was lifeflighted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Before arrival, the officers believed Dover was the child’s mother.

Brent and West returned to the scene of the drowning, 204 Creekwood Drive, and met with the homeowner, who played them the video of the child playing in their yard for thirteen minutes.

Brent recorded the video of the incident on his body camera while reviewing the footage inside the homeowner’s residence.

The video then shows the child sitting on the edge of the pond before entering.

Brent and West returned to interview Dover at her home after reviewing the footage. West conducted the interview, which was recorded on Brent’s body camera.

Brent said Dover was aware that the child was found in the koi pond unresponsive and had been lifeflighted to Nashville.

In the interview recording, Dover says the deceased child and the other children at her home were playing when the deceased child followed one of the other children into the garage. She says the child followed the other who went inside to change.

Dover says her son alerted her that the child was missing. She says that they searched the house and split up to search the neighborhood.

Dover says her immediate neighbor told her she saw Parker on her motion-activated video camera walking behind the homes.

Kerr entered the maps created by Brent to determine the child’s path of travel after exiting Dover’s home into the exhibit.

The map indicates that the child walked 52.7 yards to a corn field behind Dover’s home. Brent says the direction is based on locating a ball in a cornfield.

Brent says she then walked 138.7 yards through the corn field and then 46.5 yards to the backyard, where the koi pond is located.

Kerr asked Brent if he could determine what time the child exited Dover’s home. He said he “doesn’t know what time she left.”

Brent says the koi pond is visible from the end of Dover’s driveway.

During cross-examination, Caudill questioned the thoroughness of the investigation.
Caudill asked Brent if he spoke with the children in Dover’s home. Brent stated that he did not.

Caudill asked the detective why Dover’s oldest son was not interviewed at the home.

Caudil also questioned Brent on the description of Dover’s demeanor at the scene, citing her lack of emotion. Caudill says Dover was offered treatment by first responders and can be seen in a video at the scene of the drowning. Brent said he was not aware Dover was upset during an interaction with EMS.

Brent was asked if there was evidence that proved the child possessed the ball found in the cornfield and if the child had entered the cornfield. Brent said there are no witnesses to substantiate the two elements of the investigation.

Caudill said that the Commonwealth cannot prove that the walking route presented on the maps produced by Brent. Caudill mentioned Brent’s previous statement that the koi pond is visible from the end of Dover’s driveway.

In the final line of questioning, Brent was asked about his training shift with Deputy West.

Brent said he was training with West on July 10, 2024.

West had recently joined the Logan County Sheriff’s Office and was training on patrol and not on investigating.

Brent says West has several years of previous work in law enforcement.

The next witness in the trial is former Kentucky State Police Criminal Intelligence Analyst Richard Owen.

Owen says he retrieved phone call logs, text messages, and social media content from Dover’s phone with Cellebrite technology after it was given to him by law enforcement.

The call log shows several calls made between 10:13 am and 11:41 am.

Text messages allegedly sent by Dover to a contact discussing the child’s drowning death were also discovered.

The final witness on Tuesday is the child’s mother, Kaitlin Hightower.

Kerr asked Hightower how Dover became the babysitter of her child. Hightower told Kerr that Dover came recommended to her by her step-sister. Hightower’s niece and nephew were babysat previously by Dover.

Hightower said she dropped off her daughter at Dover’s home between 7 am and 8 am on July 10, 2024. She then went to work at Priceless IGA in Russellville.

Kerr asked Hightower when Dover contacted her that morning. Hightower says she received a call close to Noon on her work phone from Dover. She says Dover told her “something is going on” while crying.

Hightower’s boss drove her to Dover’s home, where she observed first responders and law enforcement in the neighborhood. Hightower says her boss asked what was happening and that Hightower is the mother.

Hightower says she did not see her daughter at the scene. Her boss drove her to The Medical Center at Russellville after an ambulance departed the neighborhood.

At the hospital, Hightower was told by medical professionals that her daughter had a pulse at the scene of the incident, but lost it when she arrived at the hospital.

Hightower says the child was lifeflighted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Officials at the hospital told her that a pulse was regained but quickly lost and that her daughter showed no signs of brain activity. She and her husband decided to take their daughter off life support.

Caudill did not cross-examine Hightower.

After a recess, Hightower was called back to the stand for additional examination.

Kerr asked Hightower if any past incidents caused her to become concerned with Dover’s child care.

Hightower said on one occasion in 2024, she arrived at Dover’s home and found her daughter standing alone at the edge of Dover’s garage near the start of the driveway. She said that no other adults or children were present outside. Hightower says the front door was open, and a short time passed before she was noticed by Dover’s significant other.

Hightower said she later sent Dover text messages about the incident and her concerns.

Dover’s response stated that the child followed another child outside and was only out there for “three or four minutes.”

Day two of the trial ended at approximately 4:40 pm.

The trial will resume at 9:30 am Wednesday at the Logan County Courthouse.