Son of woman accused of manslaughter in child drowning death testifies in Logan County

RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. – The trial of Lindsey Dover, charged with second-degree manslaughter in the drowning death of a two-year-old girl she babysat, continued Wednesday in Logan County.

The Commonwealth Attorney’s first witness is Kendra Buettner, Dover’s next-door neighbor on Pleasant Drive.

Buettner told 7th Judicial Circuit prosecutor Neil Kerr that Russellville Police Department Detective Nichole Bibb contacted her on her security camera intercom on the day of the drowning death. Buettner was not home at the time of the incident.

She told Bibb that her camera had detected motion behind her house, and it showed the two-year-old girl walking toward a corn field between her home and Dover’s.

When cross-examined by Dover’s defense attorney, John Caudill, Buettner said the motion camera only captured still images, and it could not be preserved. Caudill asked Buettner if she could see the child enter the corn field from the device. She indicated that she could not. Buettner also said she doesn’t recall whether the child was holding a ball like the one found by law enforcement in the cornfield.

The prosecution then called Kelly Carr. Carr hired Dover as a babysitter for her daughter in June 2024.

Carr testified that her four-year-old daughter told her that she walked to a barn down the street with other children at Dover’s home without Dover.

Carr says she confronted Dover over the phone. Dover said that she was watching the children from the front yard of her home, and the barn owner gave permission for them to be there.

Carr said she decided her daughter would no longer be under Dover’s care on July 9, 2024.

The defense did not have further questions.

Sharon Bray, the owner of the barn at 205 Creekwood Drive, took the stand following Carr.

Bray told Kerr that she did not give permission to the children, including Dover’s, to be on her property and be near the barn.

Kerr asked Bray if she had been provided with photos of the children on her property. She said a neighbor sent photos of the children on her property.

Bray says on one occasion she saw the children on her property and asked them to leave. She said that the child’s father, Christopher Walker, asked to speak with her following the interaction.

Initially, Bray says Walker denied that his children were on her property. She says a neighbor showed Walker photos of his children on her property.
Bray says Dover arrived and began arguing with her and denying that her kids were on Bray’s property. Bray says Dover called her a “bitch.”

During cross-examination, Caudill asked Bray if the children were on the street with black top chalk at the time of the argument.

The prosecution then called Rebecca and William Robertson, who reside on Pleasant Drive, to testify.

Rebecca Robertson says she often saw children playing throughout the neighborhood. On one occasion, Robertson says she saw a small child wearing only a diaper walking with other children.

Caudill asked Robertson why she didn’t call 911. She told Caudill, “It’s not my child,” and there are a significant number of kids in the neighborhood.

Kerr asked Robertson if she thought the barn was visible from Dover’s driveway. She said the barn may be partially visible.

Next, William Robertson took the stand.

Kerr asked Robertson if he had ever observed children playing unsupervised in the neighborhood. Robertson said he saw small children playing, but was unsure of how old they were. He did not see a child wearing only a diaper.

Robertson said he saw what he believed to be a toddler with Dover’s children in the neighborhood across the street between 102 and 106 Pleasant Drive.

When asked, Robertson told Caudill he was unsure if an adult was present. Caudill also questioned why he didn’t call 911.

The prosecution’s next witness is Logan County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Deputy Elijah West.

West says he was previously employed as an officer with the 18th Judicial District Drug Task Force in Tennessee before becoming a deputy in Logan County. West was on his second week of training and his first day patrolling with Sergeant Jason Brent on July 10, 2024.

West says they were dispatched to a domestic violence call in Lewisburg, but rerouted when the missing child call placed by Dover came in at 11:11 am.

West says that when he and Brent arrived, Dover was holding a baby. He says Dover told them the child victim may have gone into the corn field.
Brent and West began searching the corn field after a search of Dover’s garage and car. Russellville Police searched the inside of the home

West says he walked through to the other side of the cornfield before Brent called him back at 11:30 am. They received communication from Russellville police shortly after that, the child victim was located in a koi pond at 204 Creekwood Drive.

West says she received a short drive from another officer and sprinted to the scene to assist with life-saving measures. After EMS arrived, West says he and Brent went to the Medical Center at Russellville.

After that, West says the owner of 204 Creekwood Drive was contacted to review surveillance footage of the drowning death, which was presented to the jury on Tuesday.

The jury was presented with Deputy West’s body camera footage of the initial interview with Dover on July 10, 2024.

West says Dover’s demeanor during the interview was much calmer than he expected.

He says that after comparing events to Dover’s statements, he believes that the timelines don’t match.

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

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.

West says the speed at which the child victim was walking in the surveillance video was used to determine how long it took the child to arrive at the koi pond. He believes it took the child five to seven minutes.

On Tuesday, Caudill said that the Commonwealth cannot prove that the walking route presented on the maps produced by Brent.

Based on evidence and interview statements, a search warrant for Dover’s cellphone was obtained.

West executed the warrant on July 26, 2024.

According to body camera video footage, Dover told West that she was on the phone with her son’s doctor at around 10:50 am. She said she was on the front porch. Dover’s partner, Christopher Walker, was present.

Dover told West that the child victim and her son came outside to play. She said her son was cold and told her he was going inside to change. Dover said the child victim followed her son inside the home. Dover’s son returned, and she assumed the child victim was inside with her oldest son. She told West that her oldest son then told her the child victim was missing.

Dover says she and her children split to search for the child victim. Dover says she walked into the cornfield to look for the child. She said that when she came back, she checked with her kids to see if they had found the child. They told her they couldn’t find the child. Dover says she then called 911.

In the video interview, Dover expressed guilt for what had happened.

Dover and Walker both spoke with West about public comments they had received following the drowning death.

West says he seized Dover’s phone and sent it to Kentucky State Police for analysis.

A phone record was retrieved from Dover’s cellphone.

The call log shows that Dover was allegedly on a phone call with her mother from 10:13 am to 10:28 am and again from 10:28 am to approximately 10:57 am. The video surveillance from 204 Creekwood Drive shows that the child victim was in the koi pond for two minutes when the call ended.

Dover’s next phone call was to 911 at 11:09 am

West says that Dover showed a pattern of deception during the investigation.

West says that it is unknown what time Dover last saw the child victim.

During cross-examination, Dover’s attorney John Caudill, asked West why interviews with Dover’s children were not conducted. West said interviews with children involved in investigations are conducted on a case-by-case basis.

Caudill said that West was asserting that Dover was responsible for the drowning death, and he was “picking and choosing” things to believe in the investigation.

West said Dover is accountable for the care of the children.

Caudill also questions West about his comments on Dover’s demeanor during the initial interview.

Caudill said his client was not honest about the phone calls with her mother, but could have reacted that way due to being “scared to death” of the situation.

Kerr provided further questions.

Kerr asked West if the time between discovering the child was missing and making the 911 call was reasonable. West said no because the child had not been seen for a considerable amount of time.

Kerr continued to ask West if children’s statements are reliable.

West said no because “kids can’t say when last time seen” and the kids’ statements “doesn’t change lack of supervision.

The Commonwealth rested its case.

Caudill provided two witnesses for the defense.

The first to testify was Dover’s 10-year-old son.

Caudill asked the boy if the child victim had ever walked to the barn on Creekwood Drive with his brothers. The boy said no.

He then asked Dover’s son if the child victim ever left Dover’s property. The boy said no.

Caudill asked the boy who let the child victim out of the house. The boy said he let the child victim out of the house. He said he did not go out with the child victim.

The boy said his mother, Dover, was on the front porch on the phone with his doctor.

He said that he noticed a few minutes later the child victim was missing and told his mother, and they began searching.

During cross-examination, Kerr asked the boy if he knew why he was in the courtroom and the charges against his mother. The boy said he didn’t know the answer to either question.

The boy said he did not know when he let the child victim out of the house when asked.

Kerr asked the boy which door of the home he opened to let the child victim out. He said he let the child victim out the front door, where his mother, Dover, was on the phone, sitting down. He said he was not sure if Dover saw the child victim exit the house, but thought she would be watching her.

The boy says he later looked out the window, and the child victim was not in the front yard. He said he told his mother that the child victim was missing, and they began searching.

The defense then called Dover’s partner, Christopher Walker, to the stand.

Caudill asked Walker about an incident involving the child victim before July 10, 2024. Kaitlin Hightower, the child victim’s mother, testified that she arrived on one occasion to pick up her daughter, and she was alone in the driveway.

Walker says that he was watching the kids play outside through a window in the kitchen. He says the child victim would never have been left alone.

Caudill asked Walker if he communicated with Dover during the drowning death incident. Walker says Dover texted him to come home and that Dover was distraught when he arrived at the home. He says Dover has a history of panic attacks, and his 10-year-old son told first responders he had taken care of his mother.

Kerr asked Walker if he had spoken to Dover on the phone that morning. Walker said he doesn’t recall speaking to Dover on the phone.

Kerr presented a call log showing that his phone number was dialed and answered twice at 11:24 am and 11:35 am on July 10, 2024.

Walker said Dover didn’t mention a 911 call or the details of what was taking place.

Walker says Dover told him that she stepped outside the home to speak with their son’s doctor.

Kerr asked Walker if he was aware that Dover’s phone call log shows that she was speaking with her mother on the phone. Walker said he was unaware of that.

Kerr asked Walker about his children going to the barn on Sharon Bray’s property. Walker says his kids were playing with “road stones” near the barn, but on the roadway. He says another time, the family dog got loose, and the kids ran over to that area to retrieve it. Walker says he can see his children from his front porch at that location.

Walker says a neighbor showed him photos of his kids near the barn, and he apologized to Bray.

Kerr asked Walker if he would be comfortable with a smaller child walking that distance unsupervised. Walker said he would not be ok with it and would walk with the child in his care.

Walker said he was not aware of any events in which Dover may have left children in her care unsupervised.

Following Walker’s testimony, the defense rested its case.

The jury trial continues on Thursday at 9 am at the Logan County Courthouse.