A Kentucky mother allegedly tried to cut out her 10-year-old son’s tongue before shooting him and stashing his body in the trunk of a car, police said.
Cops in Louisville responded to the home of Kaitlyn R. Higgins, 28, late Tuesday and found her outside on a porch, where she allegedly admitted to the gruesome slaying and mutilation attempt of her 10-year-old son, Kyon Higgins Jr., according to an arrest report cited by the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Officers found suspected blood on the porch and then discovered the boy dead from an apparent gunshot wound in the trunk of Higgins’ car, WHAS-TV reported.
A witness had earlier told cops they saw Higgins with a gun and a boy wrapped in a blanket who was dead, according to an arrest report.
A cause of death for Higgins’ son, who was identified by a coroner’s office, was still pending Thursday, the Courier-Journal reported.
Higgins, who reportedly has no prior criminal record, was charged early Wednesday with murder and tampering with evidence, court records show.
She was arraigned Thursday and a judge raised her bond to $500,000 from $250,000 while citing the grisly allegations.
At one point during the hearing, Higgins got emotional as she said she hasn’t been able to make phone calls from jail, the newspaper reported.
“So I don’t even know where my child’s being buried or anything,” Higgins said.
She also has a 2-year-old child who is reportedly safe with relatives, investigators said.
A preliminary not guilty plea was entered Thursday for Higgins, who will be given a chance to hire an attorney, but would otherwise but assigned a public defender, Jefferson District Judge Jennifer Wilcox said.
She’s due back in court on May 3, the Courier-Journal reported.
A babysitter for Higgins’ two sons, meanwhile, told WLKY she previously saw signs that Kyon was being abused.
“He had came once to the house with a black eye,” babysitter Mya Lancaster claimed. “Then he came to the house once again with scratches on his face and neck.”
Lancaster regrets not taking action by calling child welfare officials, but said she feared retaliation by the single mother.
“I’m hurt, I’m saddened, I just saw them Sunday,” Lancaster continued. “I didn’t step up, I didn’t do the right thing, I didn’t listen, I should’ve said something,”
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