Two Booneville adults arrested in infant death after year-long probe
Two Booneville adults were arrested in an infant death case that shook one of Kentucky’s smallest counties after a year-long investigation.
A year-long infant death investigation in Owsley County ended with the arrests of two Booneville adults, bringing a painful case back into the spotlight in a county of just 4,051 people.
Deeann Bennett, 27, and Charles Bennett, 32, were jailed after an Owsley County grand jury returned indictments on Jan. 22. Both were lodged in Three Forks Regional Jail awaiting arraignment.
Kentucky State Police said the investigation began on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024, after KSP Post 7 in Richmond received a 911 call just before 10:30 a.m. The call involved a woman who had been taken to a local hospital after reporting a possible miscarriage. While at the hospital, the couple told investigators the infant remained at their residence on Lewis Lane in Booneville.
Troopers and detectives went to the home and found an unresponsive infant over an embankment outside the residence. Owsley County Coroner Rob Morgan pronounced the infant dead at the scene. The child was later taken to the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort for an autopsy.
The investigation was led by KSP Post 7 Detective Anthony Bowling, with assistance from Kentucky State Police personnel and the Owsley County Coroner’s Office. The charges reflect the seriousness of the case and the questions it raises about how quickly emergency calls, hospital reporting, and scene response can intersect when a child’s safety is in doubt.
Deeann Bennett faces charges of reckless homicide, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse, and concealing the birth of an infant. Charles Bennett was charged with reckless homicide and concealing the birth of an infant.
In a county as small as Owsley, where Booneville serves as the seat of local life and nearly every major case is felt widely, the arrest of two residents in an infant death carries weight beyond the courtroom. The grand jury’s indictments and the state police investigation now move the case into the next phase, while the death remains a stark reminder of how vulnerable children can be when family support, oversight, and intervention fail to reach them in time.
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