Madden sentenced to life behind bars

SCOTTSVILLE, Ky.- Timothy Madden, the man who killed 7-year-old Gabbi Doolin in 2015, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole.

During the sentencing hearing in Scottsville, the Commonwealth presented all of the evidence against Madden so that the community could hear what happened to the little girl.

Last August, Madden pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder. He entered the Alford plea to first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy.

An Alford plea is a type of guilty plea in which the person charged does not admit to committing the crime but accepts the punishment of a guilty plea and admits the Commonwealth had sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction.

Doolin was sexually assaulted and killed in a field near Allen-County Scottsville High School while her older brother played in a youth league football game in November 2015. Her official cause of death was strangulation and drowning.